RMP.Preface:3 - Research membership is not institutional status

Research can be performed in a company, public body, university, archive, community, independent practice, or citizen group. Affiliation, grant, venue, publication intent, title, or tool use is neither necessary nor sufficient. The boundary depends on an unresolved episteme for a named use, a non-routine choice under genuine uncertainty, a criticism-ready trace, and a bounded communicable contribution.

The same activity can sit on either side. A seal test can be routine qualification or a challenge to the relation that makes acceleration relevant. Stream sampling can be monitoring or an inquiry into an unexplained pattern and rival causes. Source reading can supply an already sufficient answer or form part of a source-critical design.