🐝 A move from the wisdom of the gatekeeper to the wisdom of the (expert) crowd RoRI researchers wrote for @lseimpactblog.bsky.social about our study with @volkswagenstiftung.de, testing distributed peer review as an alternative to traditional funding panels:

💥New: Distributed Peer Review – How the wisdom of the crowd can allocate grant funding ✍️ Melanie Benson Marshall, Anna Butters, @stephenpinfield.bsky.social @tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy #PeerReview #PRW25 #ResearchPolicy

Does STI policy need a strategic brain? Join us at 5pm on 30 Sept for a talk by @stianwestlake.bsky.social, Executive Chair, ESRC @ukri Hosted by STEaPP-UCL & RoRI, w/ responses by @britishacademy.bsky.social’s Molly Morgan-Jones & UCL’s Sarah Chaytor www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/does-sti-p...

🧠 Does STI policy need a strategic brain? Join us at UCL on 30 Sep for a discussion with @stianwestlake.bsky.social, Executive Chair of @ukri.org's ESRC, with responses from Molly Morgan Jones (@britishacademy.bsky.social) and Sarah Chaytor (@uclpublicpolicy.bsky.social): tinyurl.com/vekzka23

Join RoRI's Peter Kolarz tomorrow for a discussion on how to build impact into grant applications ⬇️

RoRI's @tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy has shared reflections on his Substack about our recent study with @volkswagenstiftung.de on distributed peer review. If you’ve read the paper, this is your chance to see the “director’s commentary” - and if not, it’s a great place to start ⬇️

“The discipline of Sociology has taught me that systems usually don’t want to change, and will often resist change even if their longevity depends on it. For the grant-funding system, change is here." RoRI's Peter Kolarz on the future of research funding: www.scientifyresearch.org/blog/grant-f...

📢 New RoRI paper out in Science & Technology Studies The study explores how 8 research funders navigate the ambiguous role of “excellence” - not simply as a matter of fact, but increasingly as a matter of concern requiring reconfiguration: sciencetechnologystudies.journal.fi/article/view...

🔓 It's great to see authors sharing their experiences with publishing on MetaROR (MetaResearch Open Review) — our open review platform for metascience using the publish–review–curate model: www.openscience.nl/en/cases/the...

"Much of what shapes a scientific paper never sees the light of day." RoRI's André Brasil writes about MetaROR (MetaResearch Open Review) and opening the black box of peer review in the inaugural issue of REACH by @sci-integrity.com: www.sci-integrity.com/reach-inaugu...

🇦🇹 How are researchers in Austria doing? RoRI partner @fwf-at.bsky.social has just published Austria’s largest survey of the research community. Over 3,300 researchers shared their views on careers, working conditions, and funding: www.fwf.ac.at/en/news/deta...

#AI is reshaping #science, but not without risks. At Metascience 2025, researchers praised AlphaFold yet warned of spam, fake papers and hype drowning real discovery. 🔎https://sciencebusiness.net/news/ai/ai-science-it-useful

Distributed peer review cuts funding decision time, our new paper shows; but the approach also raises important questions about fairness, bias, and gaming the system. Great to see our study with @volkswagenstiftung.de featured in @sciencebusiness.net (£): sciencebusiness.net/news/r-d-fun...

Eine neue Studie von @rorinstitute.bsky.social zum Einsatz von Distributed #PeerReview (DPR) in der VolkswagenStiftung zeigt, wie das Begutachtungsverfahren Förderentscheidungen beschleunigen und sie demokratischer machen kann. 👇 #Begutachtung #ResearchFunding

Great to see our new study on distributed peer review featured in ResearchProfessional (£). Together with @volkswagenstiftung.de, we tested if asking applicants themselves to review each other’s grant proposals could speed up the funding process: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...

🚀 New study out! Together with @volkswagenstiftung.de, we’ve tested distributed peer review - a model where applicants also act as reviewers - to see how it compares with conventional panel review: researchonresearch.org/democratisin...

Over time I expect research communities will develop a better understanding of the pros and cons of different models, like the MetaROR model, the PCI model and others. We need experimentation to find out what does and doesn't work! @rorinstitute.bsky.social @aimosinc.bsky.social

We are proud to announce a new agreement with @rorinstitute.bsky.social and @aimosinc.bsky.social to become a partner journal with MetaResearch Open Review (MetaRoR) @metaror.bsky.social #metaresearch #openscience 🧪 Learn more: plos.io/45wPZB9

From its historical roots to today’s diverse, decentralised movement, we explore five key vectors shaping the future of metascience - and what they mean for research systems worldwide: transforming-evidence.org/blog/what-is...

The plenary sessions from the Metascience 2025 Conference are now available to watch online! Three days, dozens of speakers, and conversations that will shape the future of research on research. Check out the recordings on Cassyni here: cassyni.com/s/metascienc...

🔒Our latest study regards "the effect of APC waivers on the participation of Ukrainian researchers in fully Gold OA journals". The reviewers call it "well-developed", "timely" & "important" while questioning the focus on only 5 publishers. 👇Read the assessment, reviews & author response on MetaROR

Should we be doing less peer review? As research output grows, many question how much peer review the system can sustain. RoRI's @ludowaltman.bsky.social: “We need to ask ourselves whether there really is a need for all research outputs to be peer reviewed.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What do we mean by “transdisciplinary research”? There are varying definitions, but Helen Buckley Woods @rorinstitute.bsky.social writes @lseimpactblog.bsky.social all of them share three common elements: partnerships, values and impact.

“The peer-reviewer pool is smaller than the author pool. I think people are feeling that pressure.” In a new @nature.com article on the peer review crisis, RoRI's @stephenpinfield.bsky.social comments on the uneven distribution of review labour: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New post on @lseimpactblog.bsky.social by RoRI senior researcher Helen Buckley Woods unpacking the complexity of transdisciplinary research 🧩

💥New: What makes research truly #transdisciplinary? While there’s no single definition of “transdisciplinary research,” Helen Buckley Woods @rorinstitute.bsky.social identifies three core elements: partnerships, values & impact. How these are understood depends on each research community & funder.

🆕 Guest blog post on the state of paying for peer review. Pilot studies are promising, but we need some people to drill down into much more detail about how it might work. ⚠️ Contains me. origineditorial.com/origin-edito...

Discussion at #Metascience2025 about transforming research communication, including a talk by @andre-brasil.bsky.social about the @metaror.bsky.social platform. @rorinstitute.bsky.social @aimosinc.bsky.social @cwts.nl

How are Narrative CVs reshaping academic values and self-presentation? This new piece draws on findings from RoRI’s NARRATIVES project, exploring how reviewers engage with narrative CVs across funding schemes in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany: blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

"By reducing waste and increasing research impact, metascience benefits society as a whole." Great to see RoRI’s @jameswilsdon.bsky.social featured in this interview with Agência FAPESP as part of his visit to Brazil this week. Full interview (in Portuguese): agencia.fapesp.br/ao-evitar-a-...

Very grateful to all colleagues in the metascience community who dropped by at the @metaror.bsky.social stand at the recent #Metascience2025 conference. Glad to see the overwhelming interest in the MetaROR platform! metaror.org @rorinstitute.bsky.social @aimosinc.bsky.social @cwts.nl

Online seminar tomorrow! Join RoRI's Alex Rushforth and Gunnar Sivertsen for a presentation based on a recent RoRI working paper exploring how national research assessment systems are evolving across 13 countries: www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...

Metascience’s big tent 🏕️ Some reflections from @scurry.bsky.social and @jameswilsdon.bsky.social after hosting #Metascience2025 last week - as we all continue digesting the insights and engaging with the interesting post-conference discussions: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-poli...

‘Metascience can improve science — but it must be useful to society, too’. Good, thoughtful editorial in @nature.com on #Metascience2025 & the new Alliance www.nature.com/articles/d41... @helenpearson.bsky.social @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social @briannosek.bsky.social

An experimental peer-review system slashes the time taken to review grant applications, according to results reported at #Metascience2025. 'Distributed peer review' requires researchers who apply for funding to review the other applications. My story for @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

In this blog post we make the case for the @metaror.bsky.social publish-review-curate model, arguing it supports better research assessment, as promoted by DORA and others. @rorinstitute.bsky.social @aimosinc.bsky.social @cwts.nl

🧵What a fantastic event #Metascience2025 was! A remarkable three days, with more than 800 delegates from 65 countries. On day 1, science minister Patrick Vallance warned against seeing curiosity-driven research as the “easiest thing to cut”. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

Inspired (partly) by ‪@jontreadway.bsky.social 's tweet thread, I have come up with a highly subjective and tentative map of different strands in metascience. It is intended as a starter to begin talking about what people (want to) include in metascience. #metascience2025

🕖 Only a few days left to apply.... Check out this exciting opportunity to join RoRI as a (senior) Research Fellow in #Metascience. Apply before 9 July 👇

For me, Kelvin Katukula Mubiana of Namibia’s NCRST was one of the stars of #Metascience2025. Here he is doing an interview about the conference on the NBC (Namibia’s state broadcaster) youtu.be/ZByH9Ni2VJ8?...

There were many attendees, from everywhere! Thanks to everyone for making #metascience2025 a success. It set a high bar for #metascience2027 in Montreal.

Here are some swiftly assembled thoughts on #Metascience2025. Congratulations to the organisers. It was an excellent, full and balanced conference, bringing together many disparate strands. They threaded a complex needle really well.

🎉 That’s a wrap on Metascience 2025! Three packed days of ideas, debates, and community - and we’re still buzzing from it all. We’re grateful to all who spoke, chaired, presented, posted, and participated for making #Metascience2025 such a dynamic gathering 🌍

Was very proud to represent MetaROR.org, the new preprint reviewing service for metaresearch (check out the website, we already have several articles with open reviews posted!), with @denolmo.bsky.social (pictured), @ludowaltman.bsky.social, Kathy Zeiler, and André Brasil, all at #metascience2025

#metascience2025 day three @rorinstitute.bsky.social fellow, André Brasil presenting on #MetaRoR as a key step in #PRC (Publish, Review, Curate) - service, portal, PRC initiative and ALSO a research project -- investigating/experimenting and reporting AS they do the work

"How would you build an organisation like a coral?" Typically engaging presentation from Geoff Mulgan at #Metascience2025, who argues persuasively for a less 'conservative' design of institutions with (effectively linked) intelligence at the core.

Had a great, thought-provoking time sitting on the panel about how feminist research and metascience are aligned. Our big argument = metascience IS feminist. It’s asking fundamental questions about knowledge, power, and credibility. We just have never framed it like this explicitly #Metascience2025

Really enjoyed taking part in the panel discussion earlier today on Feminist Metascience at #Metascience2025! In the panel I spoke about epistemic diversity and intellectual humility. We need to be considering voices that are quieter in these discussions- it shouldn’t be a battle to be heard here.

@metaror.bsky.social is a scholar-controlled peer review service for metascience research. Check us out! Metaror.org #metascience2025 (I am an associate editor at MetaRoR) @ludowaltman.bsky.social @aidybarnett.bsky.social

Cassidy Sugimoto pulls no punches in diagnosing the science policy effects of the current US administration #metascience2025