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A review on the international research frontier and development status of science and technology evaluation industry
Chi Jingru, Tao Rui, Li Ting
2019, 40(6):
276-284.
In recent years, Chinese government has paid more attention on science and technology evaluation. Important policies such as Working Regulations on Science and Technology Evaluation have been issued. The quantity of science and technology evaluation research and practice is increased substantially. The number of evaluation institutions and evaluators has continued to grow, and new evaluation directions have emerged constantly. China’s science and technology evaluation industry is experiencing a period of rapid development. However, the evaluation industry also faces many problems, such as misleading of orientation, inadequate capacity and so on. The reform of science and technology evaluation industry is imperative. What to be reformed and how to reform are questions that need to be answered. Evaluation industry has been a mature industry in many countries, where it has experienced the development stages of exploration, institutionalization and professionalization. There are many experience and lessons worth to be learned from foreign countries. Tracking the international research frontiers of evaluation and understanding the development trends of international evaluation community will help us better examine the status of Chinas science and technology evaluation industry, clarify the direction of reform, and further guide the evaluation research and practice.Chinese scholars have introduced some foreign experience on science and technology evaluation from different perspectives, including the evaluation methods, the application of evaluation results, evaluation process and organization, construction of evaluation system, the evaluation objects, and the evaluation of science and technology achievements, etc. These are of reference value to the construction of China’s science and technology evaluation industry, but are still limited and can neither reflect the overall development trends in global evaluation community, nor the evaluation hotspots and activity level. This study selects four academic journals about evaluation worldwide. These are Evaluation, American Journal of Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation and Research Evaluation. The papers published on these four journals from 2014 to 2016 are collected and studied. Statistics and analysis are made on keywords, countries, institutions, citations, etc., with the aim to present and interpret the international research frontier and development trend in both the area of evaluation, as well as the science and technology evaluation globally. There are two limitations of our study. One is that the four selected journals are typical evaluation journals, but could not cover all of the papers published worldwide in the evaluation area, while the other is the statistic data of 2014-2016 can reveal some recent trends in the evaluation area, but cannot reflect the long-term trends in this area. The study found that, from 2014 to 2016, 396 academic papers were published on four journals. European and American countries have important influence and activity level in evaluation area. The United States publishes the most papers in the field of evaluation and is far more active than other countries. In the area of science and technology evaluation, the Netherlands and Spain published the most papers. Evaluation in UK, Canada, Italy and Germany are also active. China is not active in international evaluation community, with fewer papers published.Professional evaluation institutions in foreign countries are diversified, including universities, research institutions, think tanks, enterprises and other types. Leiden University in the Netherlands has become the most active evaluation institution worldwide. Arhus University in Denmark, Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain and Michigan State University in the United States are also very active. Active evaluation institutions are concentrated in the United States mostly. From 2014 to 2016, in the evaluation area, evaluation practice is the most frequent keyword, and impact assessment, evaluation theory, program evaluation, evaluation research appear frequently, which show the research hotspots in recent years. In the area of science and technology evaluation, 353 keywords are present, among which research evaluation has the highest frequency, and bibliometrics, peer review, indicators and web of science have higher frequency. All the papers are classified into 15 evaluation issues. Among them, the papers related to impact assessment are accounting for the largest number, and other hot issues include bibliometrics, evaluation research and research funds evaluation. Based on keyword analysis and evaluation issue analysis, it is found that bibliometrics is still the research hotspot in science and technology evaluation area, and impact assessment has become the most concentrated research direction. The evaluation papers published present the feature of close integration of theory and practice. In addition, it is an important experience of foreign country to promote the development of evaluation industry through evaluation association and professional journals. Comparatively, there are following problems in Chinas science and technology evaluation industry. First, the evaluation practice is not active enough and the evaluation results are less open, which to some extent affects the international exchange of Chinese evaluators. Second, Chinas evaluation institutions have developed rapidly in recent years, but not as diversified as the foreign country, their capacity and demand are unbalanced. Third, the theoretical research and practical work of evaluation are somewhat separated. The evaluation theory and common issues with Chinese characteristics are not paid enough attentions by Chinas evaluation community. Fourth, the development of science and technology evaluation industry is out of order to some degree, lack of orientation and capacity building. Fifth, there are no professional journals for science and technology evaluation in China. Evaluation accomplishment are often published on the journals belong to the field of science and technology management, information science and policy science, with the problems of low acceptance rate and lack of professionalism.Based on the statistics and analysis, some suggestions are raised. Firstly, international exchange should be strengthened among Chinese evaluators, so as to enhance the international influence and recognition of Chinas evaluation activities. Secondly, diversified evaluation institutions should be supported, and develop professionally. Thirdly, according to the needs of Chinas evaluation development, more research tracking the international frontier should be conducted, some ideas and methods could be drawn from foreign countries, and provide reference for our own evaluation practice. Fourthly, more attentions should be paid to the theory innovation and methods exploration of evaluation with Chinese characteristics, improving the openness of public investment evaluation activities, trying to apply more methods into evaluation practice, and promote the improvement of both evaluation theory and practice in China. Fifthly, to establish the China science and technology evaluation association, better directing the development of industry, and qualifying the evaluators, strengthening capacity-building in an organized manner. To establish professional evaluation journals, providing communication platforms for evaluation research and practice, encouraging the exchanges among evaluators.
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