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Impact: The search for the science that matters

Every government and organization that funds research wants to support science that makes a difference — by opening up new academic vistas, stimulating innovation, influencing public policies or directly improving people's lives. But separating the best from the rest has never been harder. This Nature special issue examines, through journalism and comment, how the impact of research is traced and measured — and asks whether today's evaluation systems elevate the most influential science.

Image credit: Lorenzo Petrantoni

Editorial

  • The maze of impact metrics

    In deciding how to judge the impact of research, evaluators must take into account the effects of emphasizing particular measures — and be open about their methods.

    Nature ( )

News Features

  • Judgement day

    Many governments are assessing the quality of university research, much to the dismay of some researchers.

    Nature ( )

  • The golden club

    Publishing in the most prestigious journals can open doors, but their cachet is under attack.

    Nature ( )

Comment

  • Open citations

    Make bibliographic citation data freely available and substantial benefits will flow, says David Shotton, director of the Open Citations Corpus.

    Nature ( )

  • The reuse factor

    The reference is not dead — it is exploding to encompass the full spectrum of research outputs from lines of code to video frames, explains Mark Hahnel.

    Nature ( )

Careers

  • Pack a punch

    Grant reviewers are increasingly focusing on the scientific and social impact of proposed research projects.

    Nature ( )