OpenUP Measuring Research Impact: Concepts, Methods, Limitations and Solutions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7557/5.4515Keywords:
Impact, MetricsAbstract
Watch the VIDEO.
The immediate Return on Investment (ROI) for basic scientific research is scientific impact – improvements in knowledge of our physical, biological and social world. The Return on Investment (ROI) for applied research and the long-term Return on Investment for basic research is societal impact (i.e. impact on health, environment, the economy, etc.). However, many of these impacts are hard to measure and may only be apparent decades after the original investment. This creates demand from funders and policy makers for metrics that predict impacts before they can be measured. Here we define a preliminary conceptual framework describing the chain of events leading from the outputs of basic research (publications, data, software, cell lines, equipment, methodologies, theories etc.) to the outputs of applied research (products, treatments, technology components etc.) to societal, financial, health and environmental impact. We go on to discuss how these impacts are currently measured in the short term (days and weeks), the medium term (years) and the long term (decades), and to identify the main providers of impact metrics. We highlight the different ways in which research metrics are used by different categories of user (researchers, institutions, national and European policymakers). Finally, we discuss the limitations of current metrics and possible solutions.
Metrics
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).