Welcome to Our Curated Section of Articles on Measuring Impact

We want to hear your thoughts, ideas, experiences and concerns about impact and its measurement. Comment below or write us at info@socialscience space.com

Newest Posts

Do Practitioners Prefer to Connect with Researchers who are Local?

One long-standing concern with connecting research and practice is that the implications of research findings are often presented in a highly “decontextualized, distant way” that makes it difficult for practitioners to apply them to the specific context where they work.

Have We Outsourced Impact Measures to Database Providers?

Arlette Jappe, David Pithan and Thomas Heinze find that the growth in the volume of ‘evaluative citation analysis’ publications has not led to the formation of an intellectual field with strong reputational control. This has left a gap which has been filled by commercial database providers, who by selecting and distributing research metrics have gained a powerful role in defining standards of research excellence without being challenged by expert authority.

When Do Practitioners Want to Connect with Researchers?

In the first of a series of short posts by Adam S. Levine spotlighting what the organization Research4Impact has learned about connecting social science researches with practitioners, he identifies four reasons why nonprofit practitioners have wanted to engage with social scientists.

Can Academic Research be a Force for Good?

The greatest value of research is the positive impact it has on society. In this first blog post from a series looking at seminal academic articles from the SAGE Inspire collection, the editor of ‘Administrative Science Quarterly’ talks about a key 2016 piece on ‘whitening résumés.’

Impact and Knowledge Exchange series | By Louis Coiffait

Meanwhile, Impact Down Under

by Louis Coiffait (May 22, 2019) | Australia has been sampling a variety of tests for measuring research impact for more than a decade, but has yet to settle on whether the ‘impact agenda’ is here to stay.

Where Next for National Impact and Knowledge Exchange Policies?

(May 20, 2019) | Showing impact is a question of timescales as well as metrics. If you invest in research you are likely to see success in high-quality research outputs such as publications, as the UK has demonstrated in the past couple of decades. But it’s harder to demonstrate innovation and it takes longer.

Trans-Atlantic Approaches

Louis speaks to two leading UK experts who also know other countries; Hamish McAlpine, head of knowledge exchange data and evidence at Research England, and Sean Fielding, director of innovation, impact and business at the University of Exeter, and chair of the UK national knowledge exchange association, PraxisAuril.

Improving Google Scholar (and the Citation System)

To end his trilogy of articles on the research metric system (and Google Scholar in particular), Louis Coiffait explores what improvements could be made.

Criticisms of Google Scholar

In his second article about the citation system and Google Scholar, Louis Coiffait looks at some of the current criticisms.

The Emerging UK Policy Landscape for Researchers

In this first in a series of articles about impact, Louis Coiffait will provide an overview of the current situation for researchers (including social scientists) in the United Kingdom, in particular looking at the impact and knowledge exchange frameworks.

At a Glance: The UK’s Twin-track Approach to Measuring Impact

For the public, the recent surge of populism suggests things other than ‘facts’ or ‘truth’ can drive them. In his second article in a series on impact, Louis Coiffait looks at how REF and KEF treat impact in the UK.

Impact Posts

The Changing Imperative to Demonstrate Social Science Impact

In less than a decade the impact agenda has evolved from being a controversial idea to an established part of national research systems. Over the same period the ability to create and measure research impact through digital communication media has also developed significantly. Ziyad Marar argues that it is time to reinvigorate the debate on demonstrating social science research impact and to develop a language unique to researchers.

New Report Looks at Steps Toward Impact Measurement

(May 23, 2019) | SAGE Publishing, the parent of Social Science Space, has released a report on measuring the impact of social science. Two issues undergird the report – that traditional “literature-based” measurements of impact are insufficient for modern demands to show value for money, and that new technologies make new ways of measuring impact possible.

How Journal Impact Factor Affects Your Career

A new preprint was recently shared on PeerJ Preprints on the Use of the Journal Impact Factor in academic review, promotion, and tenure evaluations. Alice Fleerackers, Juan Pablo Alperin, and Erin McKiernan discuss the investigation and the findings on how the flawed metric is currently used in tenure and promotion decisions in universities across North America.

A new survey of university faculty finds that the idea of altmetrics – using something aside from journal citations as the measure of scholarly impact – has made less headway among faculty than might be expected given the hoopla surrounding altmetrics. These new measures are the most familiar in the social science community (barely) and least familiar in the arts and humanities (dramatically so).

Social Science Ahead of the (Shallow) Curve on Altmetrics

Achieving Impact for Early-Career Researchers

For many early-career researchers, the practicalities of how to successfully influence policy processes can be elusive, causing problems. Megan Evans and Chris Cvitanovic provide some practical tips and suggestions that can help to empower ECRs to create their own pathways to impact that best suit their individual goals, circumstances, interests, and strengths.

ESRC Announces Finalists for Celebrating Impact Prize

Ranging from jurisprudence to autism, the loss of a baby to the growth of equality in science education, the work of the finalists in the seventh annual Celebrating Impact Prize competition—announced today — represent a broad cross-section of meaningful work from Britain’s social and behavioral researchers.

Demonstrating Impact: How Cognitive Science Shapes Everyday Life

In their new video series entitled “Science in the District: Cognitive Psychology in the Real World,” the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences explores different ways in which cognitive science is at play in the world, particularly to keep individuals safe and healthy.