A comparative review of how the policy and procedures to assess research impact evolved in Australia and the UK

Abstract

This paper offers a systematic review of the evolution of research impact assessment in Australia and the UK. We consider its inception and detail the development of relevant policy and procedures in each country. The paper sets out the results of a comparative analysis of public policy documents, newspaper commentary and academic literature in both countries. We examined the differences and commonalities between the two nations, revealing evaluation criteria and uncovering justifications for the adoption of impact assessment. The paper highlights the convergence and divergence of the two countries' policy and procedures, as well as the political and bureaucratic contexts that have shaped their design and implementation. The paper shows that the synergistic, intermittent and iterative development of relevant policy and procedures in the two nations has been mutually beneficial for the evolution of retrospective impact assessment.

Evaluation in Citizen Science: The Art of Tracing a Moving Target

“…Today's research policy tends to refer to output assessment, measuring not only research quality but also its broader impact or use. Interest in research impact started in the early 1990s, in the UK, which is often considered a leader in research evaluation (Williams and Grant 2018).…”

The impact of journal re-grading on perception of ranking systems: Exploring the case of the Academic Journal Guide and Business and Management scholars in the UK

“…Furthermore, concerns about the use of metrics have been consistently raised in the UK (Harman 2000;Ball and Butler 2004;Chatterji and Seaman 2006;Macdonald and Kam 2007;Broadbent 2010). At the institutional level, research in the UK is evaluated via publicly funded 'research selectivity exercises', collectively known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which have recently seen the introduction of impact assessment (Khazragui and Hudson 2014;Williams and Grant 2018). The outcomes of these exercises are published at the unit of assessment or subject level, such as 'Business and Management', where individuals' research outputs grades are aggregated.…”

The wicked problem of measuring real-world research impact: Using sustainable development goals (SDGs) and targets in academia

“…Additionally, more attention needs to be given to end-users, who are an integral component in determining impact (Williams & Grant, 2018). While Simsek et al (2018) suggested that the rather narrow group of management practitioners is the main end-user of management research, they also imply that students are also end-users, and by referring to management research's ability to contribute to wicked problems, they further imply another end-user of management research: society.…”