From 18.-20. September 2024, the 28th International Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators conference (STI 2024) was held in Berlin (Germany). The conference series constitutes a core event for scholars in scientometrics and science policy research. This year it was organised by by Fraunhofer ISI, Humboldt University Berlin (Robert K. Merton Center for Science Studies), the German Centre for higher education research and science studies (DZHW) in collaboration with the European Network of Indicator Developers (ENID). Entitled “Into the great wide open?”, it set a thematic focus on exploring the dynamics between concepts of openness and closedness in science, technology, and innovation, emphasizing their impact on research, policy, and practice.

On behalf of the In-Forest team, Prof. Nelius Boshoff presented the paper “Different representations of forest science in bibliographic databases and the (in-)visibility of Tanzanian research: applying an epistemic (in-)justice lens” in a panel on Open Data Sources held on the last conference day. He shared preliminary results from a multilayered analysis addressing the question how different databases construct forest science based on their respective classifications, and how they in- or exclude Tanzanian forest research by way of their coverage. The epistemic (in-) justice lens applied in the analysis relates to two dimensions: (in-) justice in relation to research visibility, and in terms of societal perspectives reflected in scholarship. The paper will be published in the conference proceedings later this year. 

Ahead of the conference, the In-Forest team held a hybrid project workshop, with the colleagues in Berlin meeting at the Robert K. Merton Center for Science Studies of which Nelius is an Associated Member. The colleagues shared and discussed on-going analyses in the different work packages, and brainstormed for suitable publication forms and outlets that will allow bringing the quantitative and qualitative results of the study into a comprehensive picture.