ACUMEN Portfolio: Resources for Evaluation of Individual Researchers

Abstract

Academic Careers Understood through Measurement and Norms (ACUMEN) is an FP7 collaborative research project that addresses discrepancies between the criteria used in performance assessment of individual researchers and the broader social and economic function of scientific and scholarly research. Problems associated with these discrepancies include: lack of resources for qualitative evaluation due to increased scale of research; available quantitative measures are often not applicable at the individual level; lack of recognition for new types of work that researchers need to perform. As a result of these limitations, the broader social functions of the scientific system are often not included in its quality control mechanisms. This presentation introduces ACUMEN's proposed researcher portfolio concept along with guidelines for good evaluation practices, both of which incorporate: 1) results of a comparative study of peer review systems in Europe; 2) taxonomy of quantitative performance indicators appropriate for evaluation of individuals; and 3) evaluation guidelines associated with gender dimensions, diversity of evaluation contexts among European countries, and disciplinary differences.