Välikangas, Anita (2025) Relevance of what, relevant to whom? Contested Characterisations of Relevant Knowledge and its Production. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Relevance has become a central concept in the discussion of academic knowledge production, used in the strategies and guidelines of various research-oriented institutions. This article analyses some of the key contemporary tenets in this area. Having conducted a systematic literature review of 113 academic articles, I distinguish eight main ways of referring to relevance in the context of knowledge production. Some accounts focus on how existing knowledge institutions do or could provide users with relevant knowledge, whereas others take a more dynamic approach reflecting on how stakeholder needs should influence knowledge production and what types of institutional structures allow them to do so. This difference corresponds with the characterisation of the science-policy interface either as a two-world (linear) relationship or as one-world intertwined. It is also worth considering how social and policy relevance, for example, stand against each other. These nuances should be recognised given that the concept of relevance is widely used in institutional design and in discussions about the future of academic knowledge production.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Keywords: | relevance, science policy, societal impact, policy relevance, transdisciplinarity, university research, literature review | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Rhetoric of Science General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Depositing User: | Dr Anita Välikangas | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 15 Aug 2025 13:51 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2025 13:51 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 26231 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Rhetoric of Science General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Date: | 14 August 2025 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26231 |
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