The ex-post assessment of institutional performance has been applied to allocate scientific and technological (S&T) resource to universities and public research institutes. However, over-emphasis on particular types of performance could lead to unintended results and harm the science system. This research assesses the performance of these…

Organizations that fund research to address global development challenges are increasingly interested in measuring the social and economic outcomes of research. However, traditional metrics for measuring research outputs are often insufficient for capturing the outcomes targeted by international assistance organizations. To address this, the…

Current assessments of research impact have been criticized for capturing what can be easily counted not what actually counts. To empirically examine this issue, we approached measuring research impact from two directions, tracing forwards from research and backwards from policy, within a defined research-policy system (childhood obesity…

Research conducted by Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) is frequently driven by professional practice where researchers are challenged with finding solutions to real-life problems. These real-life solutions are significantly enhanced by the participation of stakeholders. Through this inclusion and the resulting interactions, activities, and…

This article focuses on the social impact of educational sciences. It introduces a framework for studying the social impact of research and uses it to analyze the social impact of the work of a research group studying learning difficulties at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The framework suggests that the social impact of research can be…

Research-for-development (R4D), as a mode of foreign aid, is a practical way to support developing countries. However, few studies have assessed the scientific impacts of R4D projects. Here, we applied an integrated assessment approach to evaluate the scientific impact of research projects commissioned by the Australian Centre for International…

This article offers a systematic review of the evolution of research impact assessment in Australia and the UK. We consider its inception and detail the development of relevant policy and procedures in each country. The article sets out the results of a comparative analysis of public policy documents, newspaper commentary, and academic literature…

Assessing societal impacts of research is more difficult than assessing advances in knowledge. Methods to evaluate research impact on policy processes and outcomes are especially underdeveloped, and are needed to optimize the influence of research on policy for addressing complex issues such as chronic diseases. Contribution analysis (CA), a…

A researcher's number of publications has been a fundamental merit in the competition for academic positions since the late 18th century. Today, the simple counting of publications has been supplemented with a whole range of bibliometric indicators, which supposedly not only measures the volume of research but also its impact. In this study, we…