Reflection and reconstruction of China’s science and technology expert management system— a quantitative analysis based on 65 policy documents

Improving the management system for science and technology experts is a crucial measure for ensuring objective and fair decision-making in scientific and technological innovation, enhancing the effectiveness of science and technology governance, and maintaining a healthy research ecosystem. This study systematically integrates Science Technology and Society Theory, Public Policy Theory, and National Innovation System Theory to construct a theoretical analytical framework for optimizing the management system for science and technology experts. Building on this framework, the study employs the TF-IDF algorithm and the LDA topic model to conduct a quantitative analysis of 65 Chinese policy documents on the management system for science and technology experts. The findings reveal that China’s current management system for science and technology experts focuses on five key themes: experts performance of duties and academic misconduct; fairness and transparency of the review process; expert selection and recusal mechanisms; review confidentiality and information control; review oversight and documentation mechanisms. China has established a relatively comprehensive framework for the management of science and technology experts. However, weaknesses remain persistent in areas such as policy implementation, process oversight, technical support, and accountability, and the management system exhibits fragmentation. Based on these findings, the study proposes policy recommendations in the following areas: Strengthen Expert Integrity Management and Access-Exit Mechanism, Enhance Fairness and Transparency of Review Procedures, Improve Expert Selection and Recusal Mechanisms, Strengthen Review Confidentiality and Information Control, and Improve Review Supervision and Documentation Mechanisms. These recommendations provide theoretical support and decision-making references for optimizing the science and technology expert management system and advancing the modernization of the science and technology governance system.

Expert system · Information technology · Statistical analysis · Delphi Technique in Research · Diverse Interdisciplinary Research Innovations · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research