Research critical? It's on the up and up (9)
I believe the answer is:
resurgent
'the up and up' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'research critical? it's on' is the wordplay.
'research' becomes 'res' (academic abbreviation).
'critical?' becomes 'urgent' (I've seen this before).
'it's on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'res'+'urgent'='RESURGENT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for resurgent that I've seen before include "Reviving after a lull" , "Coming back to life" , "rising again" , "Reviving in popularity" , "Reviving after period of inactivity" .)