The 28th International Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators conference will be held on 18 – 20 September 2024 in Berlin, Germany and the organising committee now invites submissions of abstracts.
Deadline for abstract submission is 1 April 2024, notifications of decisions will be shared in early June 2024.
Deadline for special session submission has been extended from 4 March to 22 March 2024. Information on acceptance will be shared in early May 2024,
To submit a proposal for a special session, please contact us by email.
Call for papers
Into the great wide open?
Openness is intensively discussed in science, industry, and the science & technology policy arena. It is defined as a policy priority, for instance, by the European Commission, and is associated with high expectations for improving the quality, efficiency, accountability and responsiveness of research and innovation. This emphasis on openness is evident in the current discourse surrounding indicators, not limited to science indicators but also including technology and innovation indicators. This discourse favors a multitude of openness notions and imperatives. Prominent among these are Open Science, Open Access, Open Innovation, Open Data, and Open Source Software. Additionally, there are less widely discussed concepts such as Open Peer Review, Open Frameworks, Open Collaboration, Open Hardware, and Open Distributed Infrastructures. Besides those established notions and those rather prominent by being continually addressed but rarely stabilized and resolved, there are more secluded ones, discussed mainly when specific issues become problematic. These include the openness of valuation dimensions versus the arbitrariness of criteria, impact profiling versus the plannability of careers, openness of professions versus consolidated practices and codes of conduct, open categories of diversity versus quantitative representation, and open expectations versus mission orientation.
These latter issues underscore broader considerations that may have become both obscured and overly apparent in our communities. Specifically, they highlight the external boundaries of these openness notions and raise questions about the need for partial closures, such as routine, comparability, convention, accountability, competence, coordination, standardization, selection, or stabilization. These closures may compete with the promotion of variety through openness among different communities and stakeholders.
Navigating these complex constellations of openness and closedness is central to the epistemic core of STI communities. Questions arise about the intersection of openness and closedness. When, where, why and how do notions of openness and closedness meet? How does the way we measure openness shape discourse about openness in policy and practice? Do we need to address openness and closedness procedurally, i.e. having distinct beginnings and ends? Does openness and closedness function as hinges connecting the diverse ecosystems of science & technology production and consumption? Does it make sense to engage in strong bifurcated dualities of openness vs. closedness or choose an integrated approach? How much closedness is embedded in openness and vice versa and how to measure these intertwined phenomena? How can we arrive at more nuanced operationalizations? Is nuance even desirable or does it produce ambiguities and do these in turn inform, reform or deform what counts as openness? How does engaging in, with and through openness and closedness shape outcomes of engagement? Finally, how to transform these ontological intricacies into viable forms of quantitative measurement?
The conference aims to provide a platform for discussing these conceptual issues alongside empirical evidence. It will explore the effects of different notions of openness and their implementation at various abstraction levels, the governance of what is considered open and closed, and the development of effective openness notions in the realm of indicators and beyond. Additionally, the conference seeks to facilitate community learning about the notions of openness adopted by others, contributing to a better understanding of their opportunities, limitations, and risks.
Types of contributions
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- Short research papers (max. 3000 words, incl. a short abstract of 50-150 words) presenting the method applied incl. data used as well as intermediate or final results of a study. Use this template for your submission.
- Poster contributions (max. 1000 words, incl. a short abstract of 50-150 words) presenting a brief summary of a study. Use this template for your submission.
Special Sessions
In addition to regular submissions, we invite proposals for special sessions. These sessions are a great opportunity to focus on specific topics or innovative ideas. Diverse structures / formats, including panels, round tables, and pitch sessions followed by discussions, can be employed. Session initiators are free to suggest the format they perceive as the most suitable. Proposers of a special session are, of course, invited to also contribute to their session. The submissions for special sessions will be assessed by the scientific committee of the STI2024 conference.
More information about the conference and submission guidelines can be found here.