Reflection and Challenge for Science and Technology Policy Studies in Korea

We have identified the paradigm, the knowledge structure, and the roles of S&T policy studies in Korea by empirical analysis and focus group interviews. First, it provisionally concluded that S&T policy studies in Korea are still in the pre-paradigm stage. Specifically, the level of consensus among scholars about the "academic definition of discipline" and "research scope", which is essential for an independent discipline, is still low. Next, a great part of the existing S&T policy studies in Korea is excessively weighted in specific research scopes and researcher groups. For a balanced development as an academic discipline, such imbalance must be overcome. Third, the studies in Korea showed that much of the research in the earlier stage was fragmented at the micro-level. More recently, however, S&T policy studies show co-evolutionary patterns, which increase the responsiveness of the society. Based on this analysis, the future direction of studies should form a unique flow of our own, building Korean policy cases and models rather than following those developed countries.