Frontiers | Grand Challenges in Measuring and Characterizing Scholarly Impact | Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics

Scientists, policy makers, and the general public need to access, understand, and communicate scientific knowledge. As Heilmeier’s Catechism advocated, researchers should be able to communicate the value of their research to the public regardless whether it is a mission to Mars or a search for a cure for cancer. The constantly growing body of scholarly knowledge of science, technology, and humanities is an asset to mankind. While new discoveries expand the existing knowledge, they may simultaneously render some of it obsolete. It is crucial for scientists and other stakeholders to keep their knowledge up to date. Policy makers, decision makers, and the general public also need an efficient communication of scientific knowledge. Research metrics and analytics aims to provide an open forum to address a diverse range of issues concerning the creation, adaptation, diffusion of scholarly knowledge, and advance quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of scholarly knowledge. The following grand challenges illustrate some of the major issues concerning the interdisciplinary community.