On Monday June 26th, Aalborg University’s (AAU’s) board considered and approved the new AAU Research Indicator. With the approval from AAU’s board, the AAU Research Indicator has now been through the final organizational approval and replaces the old BFI model in the strategic funding allocation.
The process in brief
Since September 2022, a committee consisting of a representative from each of the four faculties, representatives from the Finance and Accounts Department, AAU Innovation, and the VBN Team have been working on developing a new research indicator. The new indicator has been discussed in the four academic councils and the main collaboration committee (HSU) in fall 2022 and again in spring 2023. In addition, the Strategic Council for Research and Innovation and the Executive Board have approved the AAU Research Indicator.
New approaches to research evaluations
In July 2022, the EU Commission put forward their proposal for future research assessment. The new approach is described in Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (ARRA), where qualitative assessments, collaboration, openness, and societal impact take focus.
AAU's new research indicator is a first example of incorporating into practice ideas from ARRA. This is achieved by including more elements in research assessments than the peer-reviewed journal article. An example could be to merit collaboration with important partners or social impact, where research has contributed to change in practices.
The new AAU Research Indicator contains two parts; part A about scientific publishing, which uses bibliometric methods, i.e. publication points based on publication type and citations, and part B, which addresses research evaluation from an Open Science perspective. In part B, these thoughts are translated into three areas: Collaboration, Visibility and Openness.
An important point is that the new AAU Research Indicator has been designed for department level use. This means that a publication point is no longer calculated for the individual researcher. Instead, the department receives a combined point for the department’s entire production. This practice accommodates the use of responsible bibliometrics in research and researcher evaluations.
An important membership of CoARA
In March 2023, AAU signed ARRA and simultaneously became a member of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), the organization behind ARRA. By signing ARRA, AAU commits to using responsible metrics and include qualitative and quantitative methods in assessments of research and researchers. ARRA is an important step in the development of research indicators and evaluations nationally and internationally. Several universities, research institutions, and research foundations have already signed ARRA. For Denmark, it currently applies to the four largest universities, AAU included, as well as The Lundbeck Foundation, The Independent Research Fund Denmark, and the Danish National Research Foundation.
Come and join the further work with CoARA at AAU
In the fall of 2023, internal collaboration regarding the implementation of CoARA will be facilitated. Here, one of the goals is to find common areas of collaboration internally and engage in discussions with, among others, universities in and outside Denmark on how CoARA and ARRA can be included in different processes. More information to follow. In late summer, AAU Update will publish an in-depth article with a focus on the new research indicator's importance for the evaluation of research at AAU.
- You can read more about the new research indicator in the main report. It can be found via the following link
- You can also learn more in the report that is targeted the researcher. It can be found via the following link
- You can get more information about ARRA and CoARA via the following link
If you have any questions about the new research indicator, you are welcome to contact The VBN team at: vbn@aub.aau.dk
Here you can find information about parts of our scientific output in 2022 (and previous years)