Measurement

Full color logo for DORA, the Declaration on Research Assessment

DORA Announces Three-Year Plan For Research Assessment Reform

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, or DORA, has released a strategic plan to reinforce the organization’s vision “to advance practical and robust approaches to research assessment globally and across all scholarly disciplines.”

6 months ago
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Drawing of a open suitcase with arrows emerging

Unpacking Impact 

One reason that many social scientists care about impact is that they see in social science the promise of and a path for knowledge – data, analysis, concepts – shaping the world they want to make. 

1 year ago
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coil of measuring tape

On Measuring What We Value 

If traditional filters of prestige are themselves steeped in a set of tacit values that may no longer adequately respect the modes of labor (or the laborers themselves), then when better to step back for a moment to ask what we are counting — and why?

1 year ago
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sad face selected in checklist

The Perils of Measuring Performance, Inside and Outside Academia

Quantification can reformulate something as complex and multidimensional as teaching into a one-dimensional score. And such a score gives the possessor a sense of control and understanding. But, given the implications of quantification, this is an illusion.

1 year ago
2024
Grid of numbers written on asphalt

How Metrics Affect Peer Review for Academic Jobs and Grants

The aim of peer review for research grants and academic hiring boards is to provide expert independent judgement on the quality of research proposals and candidates. Based on findings from a recent survey, Liv Langfeldt, Dag W. Aksnes and Ingvild Reymert, find metrics continue to play a significant role in shaping these decisions, especially for reviewers who are highly ranked themselves.

2 years ago
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cloned sheep

How Bibliometrics Incentivize Self-Citation

Using bibliometrics to measure and assess researchers has become increasingly common, but does implementing these policies therefore devalue the metrics they are based on? Here researchers present evidence from a study of Italian researchers revealing how the introduction of bibliometric targets has changed the way Italian academics cite and use the work of their colleagues.

4 years ago
2328
Drops impact

New Report Looks at Steps Toward Impact Measurement

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.

4 years ago
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