Abstract This manuscript deepens the concept of Stockholm Science as an analytical framework for understanding the naturalization of editorial and evaluative domination in the contemporary scientific system. Building on Robert K. Merton’s Matthew effect and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of scientific capital, it argues that scientific inequalities are reproduced not only through structural mechanisms but also through symbolic processes of internalization and legitimation by peripheral agents. The analysis centers on the APC-based open-access publishing model and its articulation with productivism evaluation systems, showing how the capacity to publish increasingly depends on financial resources and restricted editorial circuits. The manuscript further examines publishing agreements in which the state assumes responsibility for APC payments, interpreting this shift as the institutionalization of Stockholm Science, whereby scientific dependence becomes state based. Such policies may relieve individual researchers but ultimately reinforce market logics and persistent inequalities across regional, institutional, and epistemic dimensions.
Research on science and innovation policy in higher education has been dominated by evidence from Europe and North America. This study addresses that gap by examining how universities respond to the InES R&D programme in Chile. Drawing on a neo-institutionalist framework and a qualitative multiple-case study of 18 universities, findings reveal a pattern of partial convergence: universities exhibit isomorphic adoption of formal structures such as innovation directorates and strategic plans, yet these changes remain loosely coupled from core academic practices. Responses are path-dependent: research-intensive, private, and regional institutions translate policy incentives differently based on research capacity, governance model, and territorial position. Policy implementation thus generates formal harmonisation alongside substantive diversity. We argue that universities are active sites of translation, where global innovation scripts are reinterpreted through local institutional logics, contributing systematic empirical evidence from Latin America to international debates on the governance of research and innovation in higher education.
The role of artificial intelligence applications in the labor market has attracted considerable attention. In this paper, we investigate the effect of artificial intelligence applications on researchers' wages. Using data from Chinese listed firms from 2017 to 2023, we find that artificial intelligence applications have a positive impact on researchers' wages. The finding remains valid after a series of robustness tests and is attenuated for private firms and high-tech firms, while the regional high-skilled labor supply fails to affect the relationship. Mechanism tests suggest that artificial intelligence applications are associated with reductions in non-labor R&D costs and the improvement of the human capital structure of R&D teams. The findings of this paper provide novel and distinct evidence on the effect of artificial intelligence applications on wages and employment in the high-skilled labor market.
Digital technologies have reshaped economic organization through three successive waves: the emergence of internet-enabled markets and platform ecosystems; the internal reconfiguration of firms through digital transformation; and, most recently, the embedding of artificial intelligence within organizational decision processes. Each wave has not only altered how value is created but has also imposed new demands on the governance frameworks societies use to manage technological change. This article traces that trajectory, argues that AI-mediated organizing poses governance challenges qualitatively more complex than those of earlier waves, and draws implications for industry leaders and, centrally, for public policymakers. Issues of algorithmic accountability, labor market resilience, competitive fairness in data-driven industries, and the broad diffusion of AI benefits each require dedicated and forward-looking policy attention.
This study examines how Science-Policy Interface (SPI) configurations shaped their institutional resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic through a comparative analysis of Quebec and Sweden. While both jurisdictions faced similar epidemiological conditions, their SPIs differed fundamentally: Quebec's politically subordinated model concentrated decision-making in government, while Sweden's scientifically autonomous model granted its Public Health Agency (PHA) substantial independence. Using comparable public opinion data on trust, adherence to health measures, and crisis optimism, this study assesses which SPI configuration better sustained public support throughout the pandemic. Results show that Sweden's collaborative SPI demonstrated comparatively greater resilience, maintaining trust and crisis optimism despite deteriorating epidemiological indicators. Quebec's politically centralized model proved more vulnerable, with rising death rates significantly eroding government trust. These findings bridge Policy Advisory Systems and Science-Policy Interface literatures, demonstrating that institutional resilience depends on how SPIs arrangements sustain public support during crises.
The European Universities Initiative (EUI) groups universities into transnational alliances, yet evidence of their contribution to the European Research Area (ERA) remains limited. This paper analyses 301 outputs from 32 SwafS-funded alliances, coding each by transformational module, activity, audience and ERA action to visualise frequencies and co-occurrences. A managerial core dominates: almost half of all tags concern Action 13 (Empowering HEIs) and Action 17 (Research Management) via joint strategies, offices and shared infrastructures. Capacity building and Open Science (Actions 4 and 1) are prominent; international cooperation (Action 9) is enabled by common agendas and networking tools. Gender equality, academic freedom and research-assessment reform surface only sporadically, and several actions are absent; audiences skew toward managers and established academics. Policywise, the EUI acts a lever to operationalise ERA priorities, but it requires clearer mandates for outward engagement, cross-instrument coordination and structured links to national authorities to translate coordination into system-level change.
Literary and artistic practices are widespread among researchers, yet their role in academic careers remains poorly understood. This study examines whether engagement in such practices is associated with researcher happiness, how this relationship depends on perceived science-art balance, and whether engagement is linked to lower research performance. We extend research on academic well-being beyond institutional pressures to consider personal creative practices and introduce the concept of science-art balance-distinguishing positive and negative dimensions-to explain how perceived compatibility is related to happiness. Using a two-wave survey of over 2,500 Spanish researchers combined with bibliometric data, we find that broader artistic engagement is positively associated with happiness and is not associated with lower subsequent scientific production or citation impact. These findings suggest that research evaluation and governance arrangements need not treat artistic engagement as professionally risky, as modest recognition of such practices may support career sustainability without undermining scientific performance.
Innovation policy debates increasingly position missions as a means to induce, direct, and accelerate socio-technical transformation in response to persistent societal challenges. Along with their growing popularity, critiques of missions question their potential to deliver on stated and projected promises. This raises the question of what it fundamentally means for missions to be transformative. We believe that a more nuanced perspective is needed on the plural ways in which missions contribute to systemic change and propose three dimensions along which missions can be transformative: intentions, processes, and effects. By synthesizing recent literature around these dimensions, we draw attention to the diversity in ways and degrees to which missions may or may not be transformative and propose seven types. We claim that transformative dimensions need to be situational and adaptable to, for example, the objectives of policymakers or the context and scope of change.
This study examines how higher education researchers and science ministry officials in Germany perceive knowledge exchange, based on parallel surveys examining relevance, exchange partners, formats, information sources, thematic priorities, barriers, and improvement measures. Findings reveal that both groups support research-informed policymaking, yet direct interaction remains limited. Ministry officials engage primarily with university administration and management, while higher education researchers participate minimally in governance formats, with access tied to seniority and position. Information sources show limited alignment between researchers' production and ministries' use, while thematic priorities converge around governance, strategic development, and data use. However, researchers report higher access barriers-lacking platforms, entrance obstacles, weak institutional support-suggesting that limited exchange reflects structural access asymmetries rather than a lack of willingness. Together, these patterns reveal that exchange is valued yet selectively channelled through established interfaces, limiting mutual exchange. This bilateral comparison advances understanding of science-policy relations in German higher education governance.
This article examines how ambidextrous relational capital can be developed and utilised within Big Science buyer-supplier collaborations to foster inter-organisational learning agility. Focusing on the high-uncertainty context of fusion energy research, the study employs qualitative, multiple-case research with leading Big Science Organisations, intermediaries, and SME suppliers across Europe. Through in-depth interviews and grounded theory analysis, three key dimensions are identified: relational foundations (trust, psychological safety, open communication), collaborative learning and adaptation (joint problem-solving, knowledge exchange, ambidextrous innovation), and outcome realisation (mutual performance, resilience, continuous improvement). The findings show that high-quality, psychologically safe relationships enable productive learning behaviours, supporting both incremental and breakthrough innovation. Addressing the exploration-exploitation tension and the governance of learning routines is central to sustaining ambidexterity. The study advances theory and practice by clarifying the micro-level mechanisms through which relational capital translates into inter-organisational learning capabilities for innovation in complex, multi-actor ecosystems.
The European Union (EU) is committed to grounding its policies for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in evidence-based policymaking. While there is abundant research on the science-policy interface and the use of scientific knowledge at the scale of research projects, little is known about more aggregate patterns of the use of scientific knowledge in policy. This study proposes a novel measurement method combining Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic models with beta regression analysis to study these aggregate patterns. We demonstrate the method by analysing the alignment between topics in (EU-funded) scientific publications and policy documents produced in different parts of the EU's policy cycle. Our dataset encompasses publication abstracts from 2010 to 2022 and EU legal documents related to the SDGs from 2015 to 2022. We find that the number of publications on academic topics is positively related to the subsequent prevalence of these topics in policy documents. This relation is strongest in the agenda-setting stage and robust for different time lags. For topics in EU-funded publications, the pattern deviates. Statistically, there is no overall topical alignment, but only with topics found in policy documents related to later policy cycle stages. By confirming established insights as well as generating new ones, our paper contributes to the quest for better methods that enable the monitoring and enhancing of scientific knowledge uptake in policymaking. We conclude by discussing potential applications of the method in research and practice geared towards enhancing science-policy alignment.
Governing commercial gambling is a contested and at times controversial public policy arena. Norway has recently re-regulated gambling in an effort to reinvigorate its unique gambling policy model. This article provides an empirical exploration of the use of scientific research by stakeholders participating in the public phase of gambling policy development and implementation as law and regulations. The paper analyses the types of research used in submissions to public hearings made by stakeholders and participants in gambling. The paper utilizes the approach and concepts of the narrative policy framework theory of the policy process. The results explore how research is used to construct policy narratives and advance different preferred policy solutions. Insights from the results include how stakeholders also use research to position themselves relative to the public policy problematic and how the value of research results are configured by the narrative in which they are embedded.
This qualitative study investigates how individual civil servants integrate research into different tasks conducted in Norwegian ministries. Through twenty-three in-depth interviews, supported by observant participation and document analysis, the study concludes that tasks are an overlooked key to better understanding research use practices in policy development. Civil servants integrate research into tasks through transfer, translation, and transformation. Then, every finished document is included in the organization's reservoir of knowledge and may later be re-used for its content. Three task characteristics-complexity, time, and political involvement-are found to influence the distribution between the integration processes. The study presents a new task-related knowledge integration cycle, contributing novel and nuanced understandings of the iterative nature of research use.
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research are increasingly promoted in science-policy discourse as essential for addressing complex societal challenges, yet enduring tensions remain across policy and institutional settings. Drawing on a systematic review of policy literature and a narrative review of academic scholarship, we conceptualize these difficulties through a paradox perspective. We identify two clusters of interdependent tensions embedded in research systems: policy implementation paradoxes, which arise from persistent misalignments between policy expectations and the conditions required for inter- and transdisciplinarity; and operational paradoxes, which arise as researchers navigate competing demands for collaboration, competition, depth, and exploration. Understanding these long-standing challenges as paradoxes clarifies why conventional interventions often fall short. We argue that more effective support for inter- and transdisciplinary work requires policy approaches that embrace complexity and institutional arrangements that value diversity, enabling research systems to sustain, rather than prematurely resolve, competing demands.
This study investigates the enactment of the university Third Mission in response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis in 2022, focusing on Lithuanian universities. Using social capital theory, the research explores how universities mobilized internal and external networks and resources to provide support to refugees and factors enabling the fulfilment of the Third Mission. Through qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and university websites, the research identifies key mechanisms, such as access to infrastructure, study programs, and local stakeholder engagement. Social capital, particularly bonding, bridging and linking ties, facilitated individual and collective actions and enabling rapid responses. Motivational factors, including empathy, ethical concerns, and historical ties with Ukraine, drove staff engagement. The study provides insights for university managers on leveraging internal and external ties to address major societal challenge. The findings are relevant for policy makers as it draws attention to the important role of universities in creating societal impact.
This Special Section of Science and Public Policy brings fresh perspectives on the impact of science on policy. This has long been a subject of scholarly interest, which has generated a substantial body of literature analysing the processes and conditions under which scientific knowledge can exert different types of influence on policymaking processes. Issues addressed include the barriers to the uptake of scientific evidence and the types of institutional arrangements that facilitate interactions between researchers and the non-academic beneficiaries of their work in general. There is also a broad literature on the interaction of science with policy makers more specifically as part of broader studies of science-society relations, public policy, and social studies of science.
South Africa's National Open Science Policy, approved in 2026, promotes open science through incentives rather than state control. However, the policy leaves two foundational questions unresolved. First, it makes no reference to artificial intelligence (AI), despite AI being an increasingly popular means by which research data is now produced, curated, and analysed across contemporary scientific practice. Second, it does not address who owns research data, confining its treatment of property rights to intellectual property and ignoring common-law ownership. These omissions converge at a single critical point: the ownership of AI-generated research outputs. We argue that without resolving these foundational questions, the policy's vision of open science risks remaining aspirational rather than achievable.
Intensifying geopolitical rivalries have triggered a series of national and international policy initiatives designed to safeguard research security and reduce risks associated with international scientific collaboration. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, examining the structures, processes, and policy frames that shape their respective approaches to research security and responsible internationalization. Although the Scandinavian countries share cultural, linguistic, and political similarities, as well as advanced research capabilities, their institutionalized strategies for managing the tension between openness and security diverge in significant ways. By examining the policy frames and the interplay between structural and processual factors, the study reveals how these variations produce distinct governance outcomes. Through this analysis, the paper contributes to conceptualizing a typology of national approaches, offering insights into how small, open knowledge economies navigate the dual imperatives of international engagement and strategic protection in an era of geopolitical uncertainty.
This article investigates why high levels of strategic directionality are not sufficient to ensure the effective implementation of mission-oriented innovation policies. Based on a conceptual and historical-institutional approach, grounded in evolutionary economics and the public governance literature, the study proposes a bidimensional framework that distinguishes strategic directionality and hierarchical coordination capacity as central analytical dimensions. Drawing on comparative qualitative evidence from Brazil, India, and South Africa, mobilized as analytical laboratories, the article identifies the regime of 'missions without hierarchy,' in which strategic ambition coexists with low intra-state coordination capacity, resulting in implementation fragmentation. The main contribution lies in repositioning coordination as an explanatory variable-rather than a presupposition-of mission-oriented policies, offering an analytical instrument to understand the gap between orientation and execution. The article also outlines implications for the institutional design of industrial policies in contexts of state fragmentation.
Why do some ministries use research more intensively than others and what organizational capacities are associated with frequent use of science in policymaking? We explore this question through a qualitative comparative analysis of 14 Norwegian ministries. Using a mixed-methods data set, our analysis draws on a large-scale survey of government employees, budget and strategy documents, and interviews with policymakers. Our findings show that analytical capacity in policy organizations influence research use, and in particular a dimension of capacity we call organizational commitment. We identify three distinct combinations of capacities associated with high degree of research use in policy, and we discuss possible explanations for the variation between ministries. Our results underscore the need for future scientific work, as well as policies to improve research-policy interaction, and that these need to pay stronger attention to demand side conditions.
