Me:
simply giving academics some measure of status - a science gateway for example. Note that this is something that would be disastrous if applied to non-science articles. Anything in the social sciences should be regarded as just below the cutting point, etc.
I should add that, given both the stated limitation to the hard sciences and the normative rigour of those fields, there could be some allowable wiggle room in NOR for experts in those areas. There probably already is anyway, as long as there is a paper to link to, and the area qualifies as research. At least it might be interesting to think about the potential mutual benefits and problems. Maybe this theorising will go somewhere or otherwise it will only let us better appreciate how far WP has come in just a few years.
-s.
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