Support to reforms of research assessment in the European Research Area

The way research projects, researchers, research units, and research institutions are assessed is fundamental for a well-functioning research and innovation system. The research and innovation system is undergoing major transformations with diversification of desired research outputs not restricted anymore to publications, and of research tasks and required skills; with a culture of sharing of knowledge and tools and of open collaboration (including societal engagement) becoming mainstream; and with a growing need of multi-disciplinary approaches and collaboration to tackle ever more complex scientific questions and societal challenges. However, the current system often uses limited methods to assess the quality, performance and impact of research, favouring quantity of results of individual researchers and the impact factor of the venue where they are published.

Several institutions including research funders and universities, in Europe and beyond, are currently reforming the assessment systems of t