Evaluation of R&D Units 2017/2018

The draft Regulations for the Evaluation and Pluriannual Funding of R&D Units, for 2017/2018, are available on the FCT website. The draft is under public consultation for 30 days, until next June 5th, after publication in the Official Gazette (2nd series - No. 79 - April 21st, 2017). Comments can be sent to avalunidades@fct.pt.

The evaluation of R&D units aims at the development and valorization of the National Scientific and Technological System in all areas of knowledge, its strengthening and territorial densification. The R&D units are the basis of the organization of the SCTN. They should therefore gather critical mass appropriate to their mission and promote working environments conducive to scientific creativity, promotion of talent and development of scientific careers.

Institutional diversity is a factor for the development and enrichment of the SCTN, which is why we encourage the consideration of different organizational models that ensure good use of human resources, technical means and infrastructures, and that strengthen Portugal's international status. Thus, according to the proposal presented, the existing R&D units can choose to maintain their current composition and organization or to reorganize themselves in the configuration they consider most appropriate.

It is proposed that the evaluation of scientific quality and the analysis of the relevance, merit and timeliness of the activities carried out by the R&D units be based on the scientific and technological production over the last five years that is considered most relevant by the R&D unit, favouring quality and never quantity without considering the respective quality. In particular, the units will be asked to select the information about their most relevant scientific production, instead of submitting exhaustive lists of publications or references to bibliometric indicators.

The proposed regulation assumes the recommendations of relevant international memoranda and documents, such as the San Francisco Declaration of the American Society for Cell Biology on the evaluation of research and development activity, December 2012, and the Recommendations of the Commission on Professional Self-Regulation in Science of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), September 2013, and takes into account the objections to the direct use of bibliometric indicators expressed in the Leiden Manifesto on the use of metrics in scientific evaluation, April 2015, in order to consolidate in the Portuguese scientific community the understanding that the content of scientific publications and their academic, scientific, social or economic appropriation is much more important than the publication metrics or their assessment according to the entities that published them.

The document now available will be adjusted according to the proposals received from the scientific community. Participate!