Su alcuni aspetti della valutazione della ricerca nelle scienze umane. Bibliometria e dintorni

Abstract

Society and policy makers are asking universities and research institutions to be accountable for public investment. Developing performance measures for assessing research quality and impact has therefore become a hot topic, on which a great growing debate has been raging for the past few years. For basic research in STM (Science Technology Medicine) disciplines, there are fairly well established indicators of research outputs, based on publications and citations, but they seem not to be applicable to the humanities and the social sciences. This essay examines the main aspects of research assessment in the humanities, its history, and several issues that have emerged through experiences in Italy and the European countries.