GYA-IAP-ISC initiative on research evaluation

Evaluating science as a global public good

The GYA, InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) and International Science Council (ISC)  are joining forces in an initiative to take stock of developments and debates in research evaluation worldwide, across diverse research cultures and systems, and to re-imagine research evaluation for the 21st century.

The imperative to re-think the ways that researchers and research outputs are evaluated and assessed is increasingly clear and urgent. Research evaluation regimes and practices are having wide-ranging, complex and ambiguous effects, including on the culture of research, the quality of evidence informing policymaking, priorities in research and research funding, individual career trajectories and researchers’ well-being. These issues play out differently across scientific disciplines and regional contexts. Further, open science frameworks and moves towards mission-oriented science are changing traditional ways of doing and communicating research, requiring new thinking on research evaluation and assessment.

Innovative and progressive approaches to responsible research assessment are being developed and piloted by some higher education institutions and research funders in various countries around the world. However, a concerted global initiative is required to mobilize research and research funding communities, and higher education institutions, to develop and adopt ways of evaluating, assessing and funding research that enable research to fulfil its role as a global public good and to address today’s challenges in more efficient, equitable, inclusive and cooperative ways.

An international Scoping Group has been formed to explore the pathways to impact for this initiative. The Scoping Group met in June 2021 and March 2022, and conducted a series of regional consultations from October to November 2021.

This scoping process is expected to culminate in the publication of a global synthesis paper in early 2023, which will inform future interventions by the three partner organisations.

Anticipated impact:

• comparative understanding of the functioning and effects of research evaluation and assessment systems and approaches around the world.
• Agreement on a context-sensitive assessment approach that enhances the value of research in serving the public good.