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Research Evaluation

Bibliometric indicators used: publications, citation impact, prestige, cita-
tions per publication.
Other indicators: peer review reports, patents, spin-offs, external
research income, PhD completion rates, altmetric indicators.
Should one use integer counting or fractionalized counting in evalua-
tions (cf. Subsection 5.6.3)? Both approaches have merit, but should be
considered to be complementary. Integer counting of contributions of a
unit (research group, university, country) indicates in how many publica-
tions the unit has participated. Fractionalized counting methods try to
reflect the degree of participation.

8.1.3 Benefits Resulting From Research Evaluation

David Sweeney in Grayson (2015) described research impact on society as
follows. Research impact on society at large is the demonstrable contribu-
tion that research makes to the economy, culture, national security, health,
public policy or services, quality of life, and to the environment. If stake-
holders (e.g., the taxpayers) want to be sure that these benefits actually
occur, evaluation is a necessary step.
That said, research evaluation has different advantages to different
parties.
Sarli et al. (2010) provide the following list of points related to
research evaluation:
• It allows determining the exact number of publications and their
impact.
• It helps in allocating funds to project submissions.
• It measures the output of funds.
• It helps to discover the use of research results.
• It may lead to the discovery of similar projects (involving other parties).
• It may lead to new collaborators.
• It plays a role in finding out if research results are confirmed, refined
or rejected.
• It helps verifying if research results were applied in a new context.
• It makes it possible to verify if adequate credit has been given.
• It may lead to serendipitous findings that results have been used out-
side an academic context.
• It may be used in a dossier for possible promotion.
• It is a way to show that a person has met the minimum requirements
for promotion.