Social Science Space

To end his trilogy of articles on the research metric system (and Google Scholar in particular), Louis Coiffait explores what improvements could be made.

Louis Coiffait’s third article in his series on impact looks at the system of citation metrics, in particular Google Scholar.

In his second article in a series on impact, Louis Coiffait looks at how REF and KEF treat impact in the UK.

For social scientists, there must be a concern that a generation’s worth of accumulated empirical evidence on effective leadership has made so little impact on the candidates in the upcoming General Election in the United Kingdom.

If you were to make up a fantasy football team for, say an intellectual Premier League, which thinks from Socrates forward might be among your picks?

Many social scientists find themselves members of a cult of quantification, argues Robert Dingwall, in love with numbers for their own sake even when those numbers produce no useful knowledge.

No one expected Tamiflu to be a wonder drug, but indications are that it’s moderately useful in fighting a serious public health threat. But that message was lost last week in an ill-starred rush to beat up on ‘wicked’ Big Pharma, argues Robert Dingwall.

Back in the summer, John Holmwood, the current BSA President, sent me an email about impact and research ethics. Various […]

As academics think about impact, they can draw on some of the lessons and strategic approaches used by civil society and campaigning groups.

A recent Ipsos-Mori survey reveals the crucial role that social science has to play in modern democracy, a role which is frequently sabotaged.

Social scientists have nothing to fear from the impact agenda, but must be more willing to talk to “strangers” such as the government in order to realise their full value – a talk by Prof. John Brewer

Recently I’ve seen a lot of hero/heroine narratives. They now seem to be popping up in research impact plans and claims about impact.