International Initiatives And Recommendationson Research Assessment

Abstract

This article contains results of analysis and systematization of key international initiatives and recommendations playing a crucial role in shaping contemporary approaches to research evaluation. The topic’s relevance stems from the growing criticism of traditional evaluation systems relying heavily on bibliometric indicators, and the global scientific community’s need to find more comprehensive, balanced, and robust methods of assessment. These new methods should enhance research effectiveness, prevent metric misuse, and foster ethical practices. To achieve the research objective, we employed a systematic analysis of international declarations and manifestos, a comparative analysis of research evaluation approaches, as well as synthesis and generalization. The study’s source base includes landmark international documents such as the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and the Hong Kong Principles for Assessing Researchers, along with recommendations from leading scientific organizations and foundations. The findings indicate a global trend away from an exclusive focus on quantitative indicators (like the number of publications and citations) towards more comprehensive and qualitative evaluation. We found that new approaches consider the multifaceted nature of scientific contributions. This includes not only publication activity but also the quality, novelty, relevance, social and economic impact of research, participation in international cooperation, the contribution of research to personnel training, and the alignment of research with the institution’s mission and development prospects. The main conclusion emphasizes the necessity of implementing the principles of responsible research assessment into Ukrainian practice. This will help enhance the effectiveness, transparency, and accuracy of evaluations of research institutions. Based on the research results, we identified the main directions for improving the evaluation procedure in research institutions of Ukraine.