With regard to merging different knowledge areas, all processes
have tried to follow the idea of balancing economic, ecological and
social dimensions, but all processes were relatively weak regarding
the participation of experts representing the social dimension.
There is little indication that proper measures were undertaken to
make sure that an envisaged balance is already reflected in the
balanced involvement of respective expertise. None of the scienceled
processes seems to have devised strict science-based selection
processes or rigorous formal rules to base decisions on exclusion or
inclusion of indicators. Most processes have applied more or less
long lists of general principles or selection criteria as ‘‘rules of
thumb’’ to guide decisions, of which many are provided by the
literature. Decisions on the inclusion or exclusion of indicators
were usually consensus-based. Thus, in science-led processes,
participants may decide on indicators outside their specific
domain as informed citizens, i.e. in a political role, expressing
societal norms, rather than in their scientific capacity. This
indicates the central importance of representation and participation
in the indicator development process, which needs to be
properly designed at the outset.