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Some Recent Developments In The Evaluation Of University Research Outcomes In The United Kingdom, Samuel Garrett-Jones, David K. Aylward

Samuel Garrett-Jones

Three specific recent developments in the evaluation of UK university research—the Research Assessment Exercise, the common performance indicators for the research councils, and the ‘evaluation portfolio’ of the Economic and Social Research Council — are described, and how they work in practice is examined. As in other countries, we find some tension between the criteria of excellence and socioeconomic benefit in valuing research outcomes. Driven by government policy, the primacy of peer evaluation based on publications is being strongly augmented by methods and performance measures that attempt to capture the broader benefits and impacts of academic research within the context …