Yat Ming Ooi, University of Auckland

Tzameret Rubin, Oxford Brookes University

Nuran Acur, University of Glasgow

Sebastian Fixson, Babson College

Paavo Ritala, LUT University

Research across social sciences and professions often fails to translate into practice beyond academia. This special issue reframes research impact—how scholarly work creates value in practice and society—as an innovation management challenge, examining the mechanisms through which knowledge is transformed and adopted rather than simply measured.

Current literature focuses on defining impact's scope or measuring its outcomes, but largely ignores the underlying processes connecting research to eventual use. Most pathways concentrate narrowly on technology transfer and commercialization, overlooking how social science creates diffused impact through recursive exchanges with practitioners. Universities and funders build measurement systems without understanding the processes they aim to influence.

Appel publié par R and D Management. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Problem framings and relationships shaping research impact
• Alignment, trust, and agenda setting preceding impact
• Identifying impactful research questions and problems
• Research translation and transformation across boundaries
• Intermediaries, brokers, and boundary spanners in research uptake
• Research refusal and rejection at point of use
• Impact embedding, endurance, decay and reversal
• Feedback loops and lags in impact trajectories
• Experimentation and iterative testing in achieving impact
• Legitimacy of knowledge in co-production
• Power asymmetries between researchers and partners
• Institutional arrangements shaping research influence
• Organizational capabilities and structures supporting impact
• Process-based incentives and evaluation frameworks
• Managing for impact deliberately

Timeline

• October 1, 2027: Submission window opens
• December 31, 2027: Submission window closes