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Bureau du F.R.S. – FNRS 23 juin 2009

The role of evaluation and ranking of Universities in the quality culture. Bureau du F.R.S. – FNRS 23 juin 2009. Possible role of a research funding agency. Prof. Véronique Halloin; General Secretary of F.R.S.-FNRS Dr. Pascal Perrin; head of research evaluation department.

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Bureau du F.R.S. – FNRS 23 juin 2009

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  1. The role of evaluation and ranking of Universities in the quality culture Bureau du F.R.S. – FNRS 23 juin 2009 Possible role of a researchfundingagency Prof. Véronique Halloin; General Secretary of F.R.S.-FNRS Dr. Pascal Perrin; head of research evaluation department

  2. 1. Research performance in ranking of universities Ranking: need for a multidimensionalframework (see Ph Vincke; see report of the EC Expert Group on Assessment of University-based Research) addressingusers’ needs and interests(students, scientists, governments, universities, industries) • The quality of a Universitydepends on: • Academic/Faculty performance • Research performance • Quality of education • Library • Supports (administration, IT, infrastructure, …) • Campus culture • Quality of life • …

  3. 1. Research performance in ranking of universities • The present contribution of research performances: • Shangai: 80% research • Nobel prizes: 20% (by staff) • Highlycited staff in 21 disciplines: 20% • Articles published: 20% (Nature, Science) + 20% (citation indexes) • THES: <= 40% research • Academicpeerreview : 40%/2 • Citation per Faculty: 20% • CHE: no weights; 4 fields: biology, chemistry, mathematics, & physics • Size indicator: ouput volume in citation indexes • Perception indicators: citations • Number of often-citedstaff & Nobel prize winners at the university • Europe indicator: # projects in Marie Curie SHS poorly considered

  4. 1. Research performance in ranking of universities Ellen Hazelkorn; Dean of the Graduate Research School, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland; International Symposium on University Rankings; University of Leiden, 6-7 February 2009

  5. The role of evaluation and ranking of Universities in the quality culture • Research performance in ranking of universities • The possible role of a researchfundingagency • Challenges of bibliometrics • Research and science mapping • Ranking of researchactors • Pending questions

  6. 2. The possible role of a researchfundingagency • A researchfundingagencyis a universitystakeholder: allocation of money &researchpolicymaking UNIVERSITIES UNIVERSITIES POLITICS, CITIZENS UNIVERSITIES • Funding evaluation is needed for allocation of money • Research evaluation might be outsourced (if bibliometrics)but used to describe the global landscape of research to be funded • Research policy is fed by funding evaluation and research evaluation CAF - 26.06.09 - V3

  7. 2. The possible role of a researchfundingagency Data bases, Researchers, Institutional repositories INPUT research evaluation indicators (economy & society) bibliometrics (research community) studies (retrospective & prospective) Methodology: bibliometrics academic research landscape at international, national & community levels FNRS FRS Aggegation to be avoided!! Multi-dimensional space crashed into linearity, information is definitely lost!! Indicator – metrics Graphs - maps OUTPUT Universities: monitoring Ranking makers: indicators; possible counterweight? Funding agency: research policy OUTCOME

  8. The role of evaluation and ranking of Universities in the quality culture • Research performance in ranking of universities • The possible role of a researchfundingagency • Challenges of bibliometrics • Research and science mapping • Ranking of researchactors • Pending questions

  9. 3. Challenges of bibliometrics • DATA: many problems linked to the collection of data • FIELDS – DISCIPLINES: various classifications, not satisfactory • INDICATORS: which ones are valid/needed to quantify research performance? • MAPPING: to assess potential rather than past performances (metrics) workshop

  10. 3. Challenges of bibliometrics Realibility of data is a precondition for all ranking exercices, the best methodology and soundestmathematicalapproachcannot correct what data collection might have distorsed… • DATA • Variousdatabases: Web of Science (ISI); Scopus; Google scholar • Overlap/coverage: strongdependencywith the scientificfield • (Exemple: for management, onlylessthan 20% of publications are published in the ISI listedjournals ; Harzing & van der Wal, Ethics in science and environmentalpolicy, 2008) • Do not include productions such as art pieces or books, and limited open access publications (Scopus, Google) or conferenceproceedings • institutionalrepositories to capture ouputs! • Choicelinked to whatmeasurementisneeded for • (Google Scholar not suited to macro-levelstudies)

  11. 3. Challenges of bibliometrics • DATA: problems of identification • Spellingvariances of ULB on WoS (1st encoder) • 2001 – 2008: # publications? • First step: 20.545 publications • ULB, univ, univlibre, free univ • IRIBHM, IBMM, ECARES, IIHE, erasme, • Brugmann, St Pierre, Bordet • Second step: - 3.850 “false” publications • Vrije or dutch or flemish or vlaams or UZ or AZ or ziekenhuis • St Luc, St Louis, catholique, ….. • Re-coding errors (last encoder) • Univ. Zimbabwe, DeptThorc.Surg., Leuven,Belgium (Ziekenhuis) • Free Univ. Brussels, Inst Math 1, D-14195 Berlin, Germany (FreieUniversität Berlin) 16.695 Belgium, Brussels Bruxelles Anderlecht, 1070… Exceptco-publications

  12. 3. Challenges • scientific fields mapped along time  evidence of change in networks • each block in a column represents a field (ordered by size) • the height of the block reflects citation flow through the field • apparition of a new scientific field, neuroscience, from the convergence of neurology, psychology, and a part of molecular & cell biology • MAPPING: a field of bibliometrics in very active development (to detect clusters, new disciplines, emergence…)

  13. on-line behaviour of scientists accessing different scientific journals (on-line access of a paper recorded by the servers of scholar web portals) • objective: to visualize the links between disciplines • circles = individual journals • colours = disciplines • lines = scientists navigation between publications • unexpected relations revealed: connection between ecology and architecture • prominent and central position for HSS (while maps based on citations favor natural sciences) Map of science 2007 - 2008 Los Alamos

  14. The role of evaluation and ranking of Universities in the quality culture • Research performance in ranking of universities • The possible role of a researchfundingagency • Challenges of bibliometrics • Pending questions

  15. 6. Pending questions • Research evaluation is usefull • But • Needs to be carefully handled • And • Raises several questions • Impact of evaluation on research activity, strategy (researchers, universities) • Impact of evaluation on research funding (disciplines?) • Risk to miss emergence of teams, themes (bibliometrics assess the past) • Choice of methodology (peer review? bottom-up?) • How to feed the research part of the (probably unavoidable) rankings with indicators developed as a support of research policy • Possible role of networks (Eurohorcs, Unica, …)

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