Metascience and the Study of Science Systems

Metascience, also called research on research, is the systematic study of how science is conducted, communicated, evaluated and governed. Instead of investigating a natural or social phenomenon directly, it treats the scientific enterprise itself as the object of inquiry, seeking to understand its performance and improve its reliability, efficiency and openness.

Research processes and practices

Metascience examines how research questions become findings, including the choices and behaviour that can affect the quality of evidence.

• It studies research design, measurement, statistical analysis, data management and reporting practices.
• It investigates replicability and reproducibility, publication bias, selective reporting and other threats to reliable knowledge.
• It assesses mechanisms such as peer review, replication studies, research ethics and correction or retraction.

Institutions, incentives and resources

Science is also an institutional system shaped by rules, rewards and resource allocation. Metascience therefore studies how funding agencies, universities, laboratories, journals and professional bodies influence research.

• It examines how grants, hiring, promotion, patents and publication-based rewards shape researchers' priorities and conduct.
• It studies the distribution of research funding, infrastructure and human resources across fields and institutions.
• It analyses collaboration, competition, interdisciplinary work and the organisation of research teams.

Communication, evaluation and societal value

Metascience tracks how knowledge circulates and how scientific performance is measured, while recognising that indicators can influence the behaviour being measured.

• Bibliometrics and scientometrics analyse publications, citations, collaboration networks and the development of research fields.
• It evaluates open science, data sharing, access to publications and the communication of evidence to policymakers and society.
• It assesses whether research systems produce credible, useful and socially relevant knowledge, rather than judging success only through publication counts.