Metascience reading list
Metascience is roughly defined as the science of doing science. This reading list is intended as a guide to those who have heard of the field and want to learn more — covering topics such as the problems metascience aims to address and what concrete projects and ideas look like.
This is my best shot at a comprehensive overview of relevant introductory readings in the field. If you think I missed any, please ping me!
At a glance:
Developing the science of science by Heidi Williams and Paul Niehaus
Shortfalls of the current scientific system:
What problems does metascience aim to address?
Market Failures in science, Milan Cvitkovic
In a chart, Jose Luiz
Academia and Startup Constraints, Ben Rienhardt
Science is getting harder, Matt Clancy
Science is getting less bang for its buck, Michael Nielsen and Patrick Collison
Scientific Funding:
Scientific Funding enables research to get done. How does it work?
Mini-series: funding people, not projects, Nintil
Encouraging high-risk high-reward research at NIH, Chiara Franzoni and Paula Stephan
What We Learned Doing Fast Grants | Future, Patrick Collison, Tyler Cowen, Patrick Hsu
Understanding science funding in tech, 2011-2021, Nadia Asparohouva
What concrete projects look like:
Proposals:
New models for funding and organizing science, Nintil
Metascience - Institute for Progress
Centers or Institutions:
Most are visible here: Overedge Catalogue by Samuel Arbesman
Some academic labs:
Meta Research Innovation Center at Stanford
Center for Science of Science and Innovation
Science for Progress Initiative | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Further and related readings:
Limits and Possibilities of Metascience, by Nintil
Idea machines, Nadia Asparohouva
Early stage funding markets for science: an analysis, Nadia Asparohouva
Interplay between funding orgs and research management, Ben Reinhardt
How Life Sciences Actually Work: Findings of a Year-Long Investigation, Alexey Guzey
A Vision of Metascience, Michael Nielsen, Kanjun Qui
Are ideas getting harder to find?
Original paper, Holden Karnofsky and Matt Clancy have also discussed this.
Substacks/Newsletters
Good Science Project is an excellent substack focusing on improving the funding and practice of science.
The Atlantic has a great newsletter on Progress Studies, and occasionally touches on Metascience related topics
Matt Clancy (substack) consistently writes interesting pieces relating to the economics of innovation, which heavily overlaps with metascience