The Power of Peer Review on Transdisciplinary Discovery

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11638103
AutoresElina I Mäkinen (0000-0003-2340-7252, Tampere University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen44
Número6
Páginas1020-1047
Fecha de publicación2019-01-07
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0162243918822741
OpenAlexW2910377394
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas48

This study examines the tension between the academic evaluation system and the development of unconventional research agendas. While scholars have studied the evaluation of research that crosses disciplinary boundaries from the perspective of peer reviewers, they have paid comparatively little attention to the experiences of the performers of unconventional science. This study asks how researchers develop unconventional research agendas to address a long-standing health problem and, in the process, make sense of the actions of a site visit committee organized to advise a foundation funding the project. This study develops a process narrative on the development of a specific transdisciplinary team proposing to study premature birth. The findings show that when the performers and the evaluators of unconventional science developed competing understandings of the research agenda, transdisciplinary discovery became limited as a particular research topic became taboo. Yet, the study also reveals how the performers of unconventional science challenged the power of the site visit committee by making it seem as though they followed the committee’s decisions. These findings raise questions about the role of private foundations as funders of academic research and the suitability of traditional evaluation procedures for assessing transdisciplinary discovery

Discipline · Engineering ethics · Foundation (evidence · Narrative · Political science · Power (physics · Process (computing · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Taboo · Engineering · Health and Medical Research Impacts · Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration · Law · scientometrics and bibliometrics research