Sugimoto a Featured Expert to Discuss the Future of the Science of Science

Posted February 17, 2022

Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Tom and Marie Patton School Chair in the School of Public Policy, is featured as a leading researcher on the science of science in an article for the fifth-anniversary edition of nature human behaviour.

Sugimoto was one of 22 leading academics tapped by the publication to discuss their vision for some of the journal’s key disciplines in the paper titled “The Future of Human Behaviour Research.” In her commentary, Sugimoto discussed the science of science, a field she described as using empirical approaches to understand the mechanisms of science.

“Contemporary questions in the science of science investigate, inter alia, catalysts of discovery and innovation, consequences of increased access to scientific information, role of teams in knowledge creation, and the implications of social stratification on the scientific enterprise,” Sugimoto writes.

Other topics in the article ranged from communication and media studies to psychiatry to artificial intelligence. The piece also emphasizes the importance of all these areas of study working together to tackle some of the day’s biggest challenges.

“This article is important, because of its emphasis on interdisciplinary work,” Sugimoto said. “We need to contextualize areas of study in their relation to each other in order to better understand the implications of their work, and therefore build a more innovative and equitable future.”

In discussing the science of science, Sugimoto highlights a growing shift towards this kind of contextualization. She notes how the field has moved away from focusing on such things as citations and more toward diversity and broader impacts. She argues that this is influenced by expanding datasets and developing collective venues for communication, which can be furthered by constructing large-scale science observatories, for example.

“The goal of science is to advance knowledge to improve the human condition,” Sugimoto writes. “It is, therefore, essential that we understand how science operates to maximize efficiency and social good.”

The full article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01275-6.