Recipes for Scientific Success

为什么有些科学论文特别有影响力？哪些社会因素导致了对科学研究和实践产生重大影响的研究论文的产生？社会科学家研究哪些因素促进或阻碍了科学的成功和影响由来已久。然而，对科学影响差异的传统解释忽略了科学家自己的看法，尽管纳入社会参与者自己的理解对于完整的解释至关重要。该项目由科学、技术和社会计划以及创新科学和科学政策计划共同资助，通过利用一个独特且未得到充分利用的数据源来研究科学成功的主题：由科学网征集并由有影响力的科学论文(“引文经典”)作者撰写的论文。在这些文章中，科学家们反思了他们的引文经典的发展和接受。初步的内容分析表明，科学家强调他们工作的社会方面，并将他们的工作视为之前和后续研究之间的垫脚石。这里提出的工作包括对数据进行编码和校准，使其适用于定性比较分析(由Co-Pi Ragin开发的一种方法)，并扩展这一工具，使其适用于可能有不同途径获得共同结果的情况。研究人员将使用这一方法创新来产生类型学，以确定科学影响的关键组成部分，并展示它们是如何协同工作的--这是理论上综合方法的关键目标。QCA的这一新应用将允许PI识别科学影响的多个食谱(实际上，不仅仅是多个成分)，并评估它们如何随时间、学科、协作状态和引用轨迹而变化。该项目将通过开发免费提供的分析工具和计算机软件程序产生广泛影响。该项目还将通过评估与产生有影响力的科学相关的因素而产生广泛的影响。了解促进学术影响力的条件应该有助于研究人员理解如何产生更大影响的研究，并帮助制定有效的科学政策。了解近年来在性别整合程度更高的学科和合作项目(女科学家表现出更多参与)中，影响力是如何以不同的方式获得的，也可能有助于我们理解，从而减少科学中的性别不平等。

Why are some scientific papers particularly influential? What social factors lead to the creation of research papers that significantly impact scientific research and practice? Social scientists have a long history of studying which factors promote or impede scientific success and influence. However, traditional explanations for variation in scientific influence overlook scientists' own perceptions, even though incorporating social actors' own understandings is critical to a complete explanation. This project, co-funded by the Science, Technology, and Society program and the Science of Innovation and Science Policy program, examines the topic of scientific success by capitalizing on a unique and underutilized data source: essays solicited by the Web of Science and written by authors of influential scientific papers ("Citation Classics"). In these essays, scientists reflect upon the development and reception of their Citation Classic. Preliminary content analyses suggest that scientists emphasize social aspects of their work and see their work as a stepping stone between previous and subsequent research. The work proposed here includes coding and calibrating data to make it amenable for Qualitative Comparative Analysis (a method developed by Co-PI Ragin) and extending this tool to make it amenable to situations in which there may be different paths to a common outcome. The researchers will use this methodological innovation to produce typologies that identify key components of scientific influence and demonstrate how they work in conjunction -- a critical goal for a theoretically integrative approach. This new application of QCA, will allow the PIs to discern the multiple recipes (indeed, not just multiple ingredients) for scientific influence, and assess how they vary across time, discipline, collaborative status, and citation trajectory. This project will have broad impact by developing a freely available analytic tool and computer software program. The project will also have broad impact by assessing the factors relevant to producing influential science. Understanding the conditions that foster scholarly influence should help researchers understand how to produce research with greater impact and aid the development of effective science policy. Understanding how influence is attained differently in recent years, for more gender-integrated disciplines, and for collaborative projects (where women scientists show greater involvement) may also help us understand and thereby reduce gender inequity in science.