The 2018 European University Association (EUA) roadmap was approved by the EUA Council at its meeting on 4 April 2018, in Zurich (Switzerland). This roadmap addresses the assessment of research outcomes, researchers and research units and organizations (laboratories, research centers and universities). The main objective of the roadmap is to raise awareness and support European universities with the development of research assessment approaches that take into account Open Science practices and that focus on research quality, potential and future impact. “Current research assessment and reward systems typically do not take into account Open Science contributions (e.g. sharing datasets). They are also heavily based on publication metrics, often equating the assessment of quality and impact of the individual research article with the prestige of the journal used for publication. This has serious repercussions in the assessment of researchers, of research groups and of other research units or organizations.”
The roadmap provides a list of research assessment resources and discusses why taking a metrics-focused approach when assessing research quality can be problematic. It also provides a list of priority actions that the EUA will focus on when moving towards research assessment reform. These actions include:
- Information gathering and sharing
- Dialogue with universities and other stakeholders
- Policy and good practice recommendations