NWB2023_Recovering from the guillotine Hydra-based construction of a new institution-level performance-based development framework for Aalborg University
Without warning or further thought, the so-called BFI indicator that served national and internal performance-based resource allocation in Denmark was terminated on December 3rd, 2021. For Aalborg University (AAU) this was particularly disruptive as the BFI indicator played a key role in the direct distribution of block funding to faculties and departments. A fast-acting committee was appointed to propose a new institutional-level framework at AAU with the aim to deliver data, statistics, and indicators to support internal strategic development, research assessment, and resource allocation. With this submission, we report on the resultant new AAU Indicator for the benefit of the NWB-RP community: In particular, we were proud to incorporate central ARRA and DORA elements seeking to “induce a research culture that recognises collaboration, openness, and engagement with society” by recognizing “the diverse outputs, practices and activities that maximise the quality and impact of research”. To accommodate for recognizable research assessment indicators as well as striving to create a forward-looking indicator, the AAU Indicator contains two parts. In Part A, classic bibliometrics are a pplied by awarding points based on publication types and citations. To incorporate ideas of responsible metrics, citations are used with a field weighted citation impact. Simultaneously, points for publications outside Scopus are not adjusted, accommodating non-journal-based fields of research. Part B incorporates Open Science perspectives and aligns with ARRA by emphasizing societal interaction through collaboration with society, visibility in society, and open research practices. The result is an indicator that recognizes responsible bibliometrics in research assessment and adheres to new ideas in research evaluation and societal impact.
