The democratization of research practices has become almost ubiquitous, and an increasingly expanding part of many research teams. There has been a lot of discussion and sharing about the benefits of democratization programs, and case studies shared on how to make them effectively work. As the reach of this approach grows though, there are a number of emerging voices who are starting to question the way in which democratization programs are being used and rolled out. As well as asking difficult questions about the extent to which they should be deployed in the first place, and how they are able to work, rather than undermine, traditional research sciences.