Towards a reform of the research assessment system

Reforming research assessment is increasingly considered a priority to ensure the quality, performance and impact of research. Reform, however, requires cultural and systemic changes which are proving to be very complex and slow to implement. During the period March-November 2021, the European Commission consulted European stakeholders on how to facilitate and speed up changes.

This scoping report presents the findings from the consultation, identifies the goals that should be pursued with a reform of research assessment, and proposes a coordinated approach based on principles and actions that could be agreed upon by a coalition of research funding and research performing organisations committed to implement changes.

The consultation suggested that assessment should promote qualitative judgement with peer-review and it should reward the quality and (potential) impact of research, and research that meets the highest standards of ethics and integrity. Furthermore, should consider and value the diversity of research activities and outputs, as well as support different researcher profiles and career paths.

The report also proposes a way forward for the implementation of such principles and actions. This would consist of a European agreement to be signed by individual research funding organisations, research performing organisations, and national/regional assessment authorities and agencies, as well as by their associations, all willing to reform the current research assessment system. It would offer a space for individual institutions to test changes, for mutual learning, and to more safely and efficiently engage in reforms. An implementation plan would be established by the signatories, including deliverables, milestones and timeframes, in order to translate the commitments into effective changes. Measures for monitoring the progress made and for exchanging information would also be agreed among the signatories to ensure that commitments translate into tangible changes, and to ensure mutual learning for evidence-based changes. Researchers would need to be closely associated to the implementation and monitoring processes. A reformed system should be also sufficiently flexible to accommodate the diversity of countries, disciplines, research cultures, research maturity levels, the specific missions of institutions, and career paths.

More information can be found on the European Commission´s webpage.