Agreement to reform research assessment
Uppsala University has joined a European initiative for academia to regain the initiative in the evaluation and assessment of research and researchers. Photo: Getty images.
Uppsala University has signed the 'Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment’. The agreement aims to help academia regain the initiative in evaluating and assessing research and researchers.
The 'Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment’ aims to progressively transform the assessment of research and researchers to increase their quality and impact by emphasising the importance of combining qualitative assessment with the responsible use of quantitative measures. In this context, the University has become a member of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), in which stakeholders collaborate on these issues and learn from each other.
“This is an endeavour to reform the way research and researchers are evaluated and assessed. The agreement and coalition are a way to bring back the initiative to the academic side from having been – at least in part – controlled by external operators, such as the ranking institutes,” explains Åsa Kettis, Head of the Quality Development Department at the University Administration.
“As much of the evaluation and assessment of research and researchers globally has moved towards quantitative measurement, this can be seen as a pendulum swing back towards more qualitative assessment,” adds Camilla Maandi, Head of the Quality and Evaluation Unit.
Launched within EU
The development of the agreement and coalition was led in 2022 by representatives from the European University Association, Science Europe and the European Commission.
The ambition of the agreement and coalition is for evaluations and assessments of research and researchers to be based on a qualitative assessment combined with the responsible use of quantitative measures, often associated with bibliometrics and ranking. This ambition applies both to the evaluation of research and to the assessment of researchers, for example in connection with recruitment or promotion.
“This may involve including more elements of research practice in recruitment processes, such as external collaboration, or giving greater recognition to researchers who have experience of being active outside academia. Other examples include giving more recognition to researchers who help the academic community by serving as an expert or mentor to younger researchers,” continues Kettis.
Well placed
Both Kettis and Maandi are careful to emphasise that Uppsala University is already well in line with the commitments in the agreement.
“Yes, Uppsala University almost never uses solely quantitative measures. We generally make qualitative assessments when evaluating research and in recruitment and promotion, although quantitative measures may also be used as a basis. And we often get help from external colleagues through peer review, which is also encouraged in CoARA,” notes Kettis.
Since the actual content of the agreement is largely in line with how Uppsala University works on these issues and with the direction that Uppsala is striving for, the University has chosen to support the agreement and join the coalition. Some 30 other Swedish higher education institutions, authorities and stakeholder groups have done the same, including the five other major universities and research funding bodies such as the Swedish Research Council.
“Our commitment as a university is to work towards the goals of the agreement, but in our own way and at our own pace. Part of the collaboration in the coalition also involves sharing our experiences with the other signatories. It will also be an opportunity to monitor – and actively influence – developments in the area,” says Kettis.
What happens now?
The next step in this process will be to review the agreement and see where the University stands and which points are considered most valuable to work on.
“A discussion across faculties is needed at the University to discuss which commitments Uppsala University considers important to work on,” adds Kettis.
How this work will be organised at the University is currently under discussion.
“The level of ambition is entirely up to Uppsala University. For example, we can start by raising awareness across the organisation about these issues (editor’s note: point 7 of the commitment) in light of the ‘core commitments’ of the agreement (editor’s note: points 1–4),” Kettis explains.
Anders Berndt
Facts
Commitments in the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment. Points 1-4 are core commitments and points 5-10 are supporting commitments.
- Recognise the diversity of research contributions and careers in accordance with the needs and nature of the research.
- Base research assessment primarily on qualitative evaluation, for which peer review is central, supported by responsible use of quantitative indicators.
- Abandon inappropriate uses in research assessment of journal- and publication-based metrics, in particular inappropriate uses of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and h-index.
- Avoid the use of rankings of research organisations in research assessment.
- Commit resources to reforming research assessment as is needed to achieve the organisational changes committed to.
- Review and develop research assessment criteria, tools and processes.
- Raise awareness of research assessment reform and provide transparent communication, guidance, and training on assessment criteria and processes as well as their use.
- Exchange practices and experiences to enable mutual learning within and beyond the Coalition.
- Communicate progress made on adherence to the Principles and implementation of the Commitments.
- Evaluate practices, criteria and tools based on solid evidence and the state of the art in research on research, and make data openly available for evidence gathering and research.