Kahl, P.: Epistemic Infrastructure Assurance: A Statutory Framework for Metric Integrity in Public Decision-Making

_Lex Et Ratio Ltd_. 2026This paper advances a social-epistemological account of research metrics as epistemic infrastructure: socio-technical systems whose outputs function as authoritative signals within institutional practices of evaluation. Citation counts, download statistics, h-index scores, and rankings are not merely descriptive indicators but inputs into decisions about promotion, funding, and reputational standing. Their epistemic status therefore depends not only on accuracy in a narro