The Coalition for the Advancement of Research Assessment (CoARA) approves Crue, ANECA and CSIC reform proposal for Spain

The Steering Board of the Coalition for the Advancement of Research Assessment (CoARA) has approved the proposal for a National Chapter Spain of Spanish institutions presented by Crue Universidades Españolas, the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The European reform initiative provides an opportunity to reflect on the research evaluation system in Spain and will allow proposals for improvement to be put forward in line with the rest of the international research community so that research and innovation in Spain continue to grow in terms of excellence and academic and social impact.

The reform of research evaluation to which the Spanish University System is committed is a significant step towards avoiding cases such as the bad practices detected in some researchers who have published a huge number of papers or who have signed them - in exchange for remuneration - as professors at foreign universities for which they did not actually work. The president of Crue and rector of the Universitat Jaume I, Eva Alcón, welcomed the approval of the National Chapter Spain and stressed the importance of "moving towards holistic and dynamic approaches that seek a more qualitative assessment, with indicators more focused on innovative publications and less on the number of publications". 

Inadequate system of incentives and resources
Alcón also drew attention to the "strong pressure" that researchers are under to publish constantly and to the current "inadequate system of incentives and resources" in the field of research, and called for "bringing them into line with those of our neighbouring countries". In any case, she stressed that this reality "does not justify any dishonest behaviour with the trust that society has placed in Science, because the University is a point of reference for social transformation and a mirror in which the public looks at itself". 

Finally, the president of Crue has indicated that these cases are particularly painful for the university and scientific community and that, "fortunately, they are isolated and dealt with rigorously when they are detected". 

Last December, Crue Universidades Españolas joined CoARA - an initiative promoted by the European Commission, Science Europe and the European University Association (EUA) - with a collaborative and shared learning approach to promote new evaluation policies.
For its part, ANECA's new management decided to join CoARA last April as it considered it essential to participate in the debates that have been taking place in the European and global context on the need to reform research evaluation models.

New evaluation culture
Pilar Paneque, Director of ANECA, welcomed the approval of the National Chapter Spain and emphasised "the special commitment and responsibility that membership of CoARA and participation in the coordination of the National Chapter entails for an agency which evaluates research activity". The Director of the National Agency stated that "ANECA is now beginning a huge task to adapt to the principles of CoARA, but it does so with enthusiasm and with the conviction that this reform will allow progress towards a new culture of evaluation, which guarantees a responsible use of indicators, which reduces the pressure to publish, which allows a greater diversity of scientific contributions to be assessed, and which achieves a greater scientific and social impact".

The Spanish Chapter has been conceived as a collaborative space in which Spanish institutions interested in the reform of research evaluation can exchange ideas, good practices, experiences and knowledge, taking into account the specificities of the Spanish context. 

National Forum
With this objective in mind, last January, Crue and the Ministry of Universities created the National Forum for the Reform of Research Assessment at an event held at the University of Barcelona. This forum has been set up as a space for joint work and reflection with all the universities, which are the backbone of the science, technology and innovation system and generate more than 70% of the scientific production carried out in Spain.

The Spanish Chapter will make it possible to plan the objectives to be achieved with the reform in the results and impact of research in Spain by 2030; to co-design possible evaluation systems with the contribution of the institutions and organisations that make up the research and innovation ecosystem in Spain; to test the results of this reform in the form of pilot projects in the different recipient institutions, considering the impact on the evaluating bodies, and on the elements to be evaluated (individuals, research units, institutions and projects), and to apply the reform simultaneously at national level and gradually to minimise a negative impact on the research careers that are currently being developed.