Regional and institutional trends in assessment for academic promotion
We're delighted to see POI funding acknowledged in a study published today in Nature. Entitled "Regional and institutional trends in assessment for academic promotion" and led by POI alumni, Dr. Yensi Flores Bueso (CancerResearch@UCC, University College Cork & Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, USA), this paper represents a global analysis of how researchers are evaluated and assessed for career progression.
The topic of research assessment is a timely one, with much current debate on how best to assess academic and scientific impact. Traditionally accomplished via a focus on publications and journal impact factors, many institutions now also assess researchers' contributions outside of their publication history.
By looking at data from 190 academic institutions and 58 government agencies, spread across 32 Global North and 89 Global South countries, the authors demonstrated significant policy variations across different geographical regions and institutions. The authors conclude with a suggestion that "flexible, context-sensitive frameworks are essential to balance global equity with institutional needs, fostering a resilient research ecosystem that values diverse contributions across the academic landscape."
Congratulations again to Yensi and the rest of the study authors on this insightful and highly-valuable piece of research. You can find the paper here.
