Building a multi-perspective scientometric approach on tentative governance of emerging technologies

The present paper proposes a multi-perspective scientometric approach on the phenomenon of tentative governance of emerging technologies. Tentative governance can be conceived as particular forms of governance that aims to flexibly address the uncertainties and dynamics featuring in emerging science and technology, thus stimulating and supporting the emergence process. The development of a multiperspective scientometric approach is critical to inform researchers and policy makers on this phenomenon in a comprehensive and timely manner. Our approach builds on three distinct but interrelated dimensions of the emergence process, i.e. the (i) cognitive, (ii) social, and (iii) geographical dimensions. Each dimension can be dynamically investigated from different perspectives, which are defined by the combination of units of analysis and sources of data, and by using the wide range of techniques and tools the scientometric community has developed. We discuss and explore the multi-perspective approach across three case studies, namely RNA interference (RNAi), Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Thiopurine Methyltransferase (TPMT) testing. We selected these case studies since they significantly differ in terms of pace of growth and scale of research thus providing the opportunity for a comprehensive discussion. © AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH Vienna 2013.