Identifying the effective factors on the interactions of stakeholders during the process of science and technology policy making

Abstract

Science and technology policymaking is not a one-time project, but a gradual, evolutionary, multilateral and dynamic process; that many stakeholders with different roles and with different goalas, participate in this process. The main question of the current research is "what factors affect the interactions of stakeholders in the science and technology policymaking process?". To answer this question, thematic analysis was used. For this purpose, among the specialized journals in the field of science and technology policy, two prestigious journals, Science and Public Policy and Research Policy, with the most articles related to the subject of this research, were selected. To search and select the articles for the final analysis, the flow diagram proposed by Sandlovski and Barroso was used. Based on the results of this study, the issue of stakeholder interaction in the science and technology policy making process has a rich theoretical support.Components such as: the diversity of stakeholders, their specialized knowledge and power, the introduction of new facts and evidence by stakeholders, the cognitive ability of stakeholders, the cultural, historical and value context of society, the opportunity and competence of stakeholders, the importance of time, uncertainty, access to information and transparency, the level of development of society, the structure of governments, the world view and perceptions of stakeholders and financial resources, human power and communication are the effective factors on the interactions and participation of stakeholders in the science and technology policy making process. The formation and strengthening of these interactions leads to increasing awareness and mutual learning, improving the formulation of policy issues, increasing society's trust, giving legitimacy to policy, achieving creative solutions and developing science and technology.