ANECA updates the principles and criteria for the evaluation of six-year research periods

The main objective of this update is to adjust this Resolution to the new Organic Law 2/2023, of March 22, of the University System (LOSU), and to give coherence to this program of evaluation of research activity with the provisions of Royal Decree 678/2023, of July 18, which regulates the state accreditation for access to university teaching bodies and the system of competitions for access to positions in these bodies (article 21.6 and Annex of the RD).

Thus, the preamble of the Resolution is being modified and the general criteria established for all fields are being updated (section I), with the aim of introducing the principles of the LOSU which lead, among other modifications, to accept a greater diversity of contributions, to move towards new forms of evaluation that focus on the relevance and impact of each contribution and not on the means of dissemination, to promote open access and the use of institutional and thematic repositories, or to positively value multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research.

Furthermore, in compliance with the commitments acquired by ANECA with its adhesion to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and to the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) last April, the Agency already integrates in this call the guidelines of the international movement of research assessment reform. To this end, the Agency is working on a thorough revision of the Appendix to the Resolution, so as to facilitate the identification of tools and metrics to endorse the relevance and impact of the contributions submitted, which in no case may be limited to indexing in a particular database.

Likewise, progress is being made in the design of a common structure for the presentation of the specific criteria for each field (section II), so as to ensure homogeneity and clarity in the information provided to applicants and to ensure consistency with the aforementioned general criteria.

Finally, a participatory process is being designed on the new criteria for the evaluation of six-year periods, which will be open to the entire university and scientific community at the beginning of November. With this initiative, and given the novelties introduced, ANECA wants to make known the draft of the Resolution and receive suggestions and contributions for its improvement, before its final review and publication in the BOE.

From ANECA's management, we are working on this update of the six-year research program with the conviction that it will be a practical and material way to promote a greater diversity of research careers and to overcome certain incentives which have been questioned for years by the whole community.