Evaluation of research involves ethical issues. While research on assessment procedures, especially indicators is abundant, there is not much progress in the discussion of ethics in research evaluation. The analysis of the existing scientific and grey literature including many guidelines on research ethics and ethics of evaluation showed that the two research streams can be used to develop an ethics of research evaluation. This STSM will continue the ongoing project examining ethical aspects of research assessment, with the goal to develop guidelines for ethics of research evaluation by combining ethical theories, research ethics, evaluation ethics. The goal of the study is to stimulate a reflection on ethical principles among people active in research evaluation, be it SSH scholars, evaluators or policy makers, to make efforts to make these principles transparent.
Objectives: The STSM aims to further the understanding knowledge production and dissemination in the SSH (Task 1 of WG1) from an ethical perspective; it will analyse assumptions underlying peer review (Task 2 of WG1); it will not only observe (national) regulations (Task 3 of WG1) but also propose new guidelines. It will add to the deliverable “recommendations for better adapted criteria and indicators” due in GP4. It will lead to collaborative publications and to guidelines for ethical behavior for the evaluation of research.
Special criteria for this STSM: the applicant should have knowledge of the different evaluation situations as well as of the characteristics of peer-review and should have knowledge of the fundamentals of ethical behavior.
Results: The proposed STSM will provide guidelines for ethical behavior for the evaluation of research, and will produce co-authored publications.
Practical details:
Working group: WG1 (Conceptual frameworks for SSH research evaluation)
Duration and timing: between one and two weeks
Location: Sapienza Rome University, Faculty of “Lettere e Filosofia”, piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma – Italy.
Contact: Maria Teresa Biagetti (mariateresa.biagetti@uniroma1.it) and Michael Ochsner michael.ochsner@fors.unil.ch