As bibliometric indicators are objective, reliable, and cost-effective measures of peer-reviewed research outputs, they are expected to play an increasingly important role in research assessment/management. Recently, a bibliometric approach was developed and integrated within the evaluation framework of research funded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC). This approach helped address the following questions that were difficult to answer objectively using alternative methods such as program documentation review and key informant interviews: (a) Has the NCIC peer-review process selected outstanding Canadian scientists in cancer research? (b) Have the NCIC grants contributed to increasing the scientific performance of supported researchers? (c) How do the NCIC-supported researchers compare to their neighbors supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute? Using the NCIC evaluation as a case study, this article demonstrates the usefulness of bibliometrics to address key evaluation questions and discusses its integration, along complementary indicators (e.g., peer ratings), in a practice-driven research evaluation continuum.
The measurement and evaluation of research, technology and development (RT&D) has gone through phases over the past 50 years. Over time, high-level measures such as total expenditures on R&D, overall citations and patent production have given way to more contextualized metrics recognizing the inherent differences in innovation subject areas and the need to show mission achievement. This article shows how recently proposed Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) metrics were adapted to help frame a case study conducted by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI). Early results suggest that the framework provides a useful structure to display both a hierarchy of results focused on mission goals, and to build an attributable RT&D and innovation story over time. With this work and other recent developments, evaluation appears poised to go beyond retrospective justification and to become a fully legitimate part of strategic learning for RT&D initiatives.
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