Evaluating science as a global public good

Background

This project has now been completed, and the ISC and the Centre for Science Futures continues its outreach to ensure impact.

It is increasingly clear that scientists and institutions need urgently to re-think how researchers and outputs are evaluated.

Research evaluation regimes and practices have wide-ranging, complex and ambiguous effects, including on the culture of research and the quality of evidence used to inform policy-making, as well as priorities in research and research funding, and the careers and well-being of individual researchers. These issues play out differently across scientific disciplines and regional contexts.

At the same time, open science frameworks and evolution towards mission-oriented science are changing the traditional ways of doing and communicating research. Higher education institutions and research funders are promoting innovative, progressive approaches to responsible research assessment.

This project aimed to provide a concerted global initiative to mobilize the development and adoption of new ways to evaluate, assess and fund research, enabling it to serve as a global public good and to address modern challenges in more efficient, equitable, inclusive and cooperative ways.

The project built on work and regional consultations led by an international Scoping Group (Robin Crewe, Clemencia Cosentino, Sarah de Rijcke, Carlo D’Ippoliti, Shaheen Motala-Timol, Noorsaadah Binti A. Rahman, Laura Rovelli, David Vaux, Koen Vermeir, Yupeng Yao), which mapped out how the initiative could have a strong impact.

Activities and impact

In May 2023, the ISC’s Centre for Science Futures published a comprehensive report, “The Future of Research Evaluation: A Synthesis of Current Debates and Developments”.

Four key recommendations

• Share learning and good practice
• Lead by example
• Build strategic partnerships with key constituencies
• Provide intellectual leadership on the future of research evaluation.

Read the full report