Abstract
The strategic relevance of innovation and scientific research has amplified the attention towards the definition of quality in research practice. However, despite the proliferation of evaluation metrics and procedures, there is a need to go beyond bibliometric approaches and to identify, more explicitly, what constitutes good research and which are its driving factors or determinants. This article reviews specialized research policy, science policy and scientometrics literature to extract critical dimensions associated with research quality as presented in a vast although fragmented theory background. A literature-derived framework of research quality attributes is, thus, obtained, which is subject to an expert feedback process, involving scholars and practitioners in the fields of research policy and evaluation. The results are represented by a structured taxonomy of 66 quality attributes providing a systemic definition of research quality. The attributes are aggregated into a three-dimensional framework encompassing research design (ex ante), research process (in-process) and research impact (ex post) perspectives. The main value of the study is to propose a literature-derived and comprehensive inventory of quality attributes and perspectives of evaluation. The findings can support further theoretical developments and research policy discussions on the ultimate drivers of quality and impact of scientific research. The framework can be also useful to design new exercises or procedures of research evaluation based on a multidimensional view of quality.
Highlights
One of this paper’s authors recently attended a conference at a university that displayed the slogan “University of fundamental excellence” on its walls and in its science park dedicated to impact and innovation
We focus on building a multidimensional understanding of quality in research practice and an actionable framework of generally recognized concepts associated with the quality of scientific research
This paper aims primarily to contribute to our understanding of the multiple dimensions of quality in scientific research
Summary
One of this paper’s authors recently attended a conference at a university that displayed the slogan “University of fundamental excellence” on its walls and in its science park dedicated to impact and innovation. Quantitative evaluation of scientific research quality and productivity has been based in particular on counting and analyzing publications and their received citations [18,19] as well as related measures such as the journal’s impact factor [20] and the author’s h-index [21]. Based on this foundation, other indicators have been introduced to reduce bias and to measure the scientific “core” output of a researcher [22] such as the g-index [23] and the hg-index [24]. Bibliometric indicators are judgment devices [27], which can render the evaluation process more efficient and cost-effective
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