20 July 2022
Virtual campus
The predominance of metrics based on journals and publications can lead to a culture of publishing for publishing's sake, resulting in a detriment to the quality of research and its impact. For this reason, the European Association of Universities (of which DEUSTO is a member), EuroScience and the European Commission joined together, in November 2021, to promote the reform of the research evaluation system. After months of work, and with the backing that the EU science ministers offered to the reform on June 10th, the Final Agreement for the Reform of Research Assessment was published on July 20 with the support of more than 350 academic organizations. The Agreement summarises a shared vision on how to reform assessment practices for researchers, research projects and research performing organisations, with overarching principles founded on quality, impact, diversity, inclusiveness, and collaboration. The envisioned reforms are centred around the following four core commitments: 1. Recognise the diversity of contributions to, and careers in, research in accordance with the needs and nature of the research 2. Base research assessment primarily on qualitative evaluation for which peer review is central, supported by responsible use of quantitative indicators 3. Abandon inappropriate uses in research assessment of journal- and publication-based metrics, in particular inappropriate uses of Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and h-index 4. Avoid the use of rankings of research organisations in research assessment The complete Agreement for Reforming Research Assessment can be found here
