Focal Area: Evaluation & Culture

Strengthening research cultures

How can we foster a collaborative, fair, and healthy research culture that enables researchers and research communities to do their best work? This question lies at the heart of the new strategy of the CWTS Focal Area Culture & Evaluation for 2026–2028.

Culture & Evaluation • August 31, 2026

Focal Area: Evaluation & Culture · Opinion & Commentary

Who absorbs uncertainty? Publishing infrastructures and the organisation of research culture

Focusing on journal publishing as one key dimension of research culture, this blogpost compares Spain and Lithuania to show how infrastructures shape whether uncertainty in publication and recognition is distributed across multiple options or concentrated in global publication pathways.

Eleonora Dagiene + 1 other • 27-08-2026

Science & Society

The case for citation count ranges

Citation counts have a prominent role in bibliometrics, but do they really represent all citations of a document? Paul Donner shows the different ways in which citation counts can vary and proposes a method for presenting citation counts with more nuance: citation count ranges.

Paul Donner • 16-07-2026

CWTS Development

Scholarly communication as a collective responsibility

CWTS has developed a Scholarly Communication Policy that treats publishing as a collective responsibility rather than an individual choice. In this blog post, we introduce the policy, reflect on its co-creation, and invite other institutions to consider adopting a similar approach.

Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner + 2 others • 14-07-2026

Science & Society

In memoriam Caroline S. Wagner

Caroline S. Wagner (1955-2026) was a highly regarded scholar in the field of science and technology policy. Paul Wouters reflects on her impressive contributions to research on science policy, the globalization of research, international collaboration, and scientometrics.

Paul Wouters • 09-07-2026

Focal Area: Evaluation & Culture · Opinion & Commentary

Research culture as a politics of uncertainty

As research culture increasingly becomes an object of governance, it also raises important conceptual questions. Based on a pitch at the Research Cultures in Transition Roundtable (STS NL 2026, University of Twente), this post proposes one way to give the concept greater analytical substance.

Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner • 07-07-2026

CWTS Development · Focal Area: Engagement & Inclusion

Engaging with societal challenges through diverse knowledge systems

How can we foster diverse and inclusive knowledge systems that genuinely engage with societal needs and challenges? This question lies at the heart of the new strategy of the CWTS Focal Area Engagement & Inclusion for 2026-2028.

Engagement & Inclusion • 03-06-2026