JU - On a global scale, the emphasis in research quality assessments has been shifting from mere attention to productivity to questions of impact and relevance. How should Unicamp respond to this cultural change?
Tom Joe - In recent years, Brazilian and international funding agencies have widely used the per capita measurement of published scientific articles as a way of evaluating research. This metric, however, was not necessarily linked to the quality of the research carried out, still stimulating competition in university environments around the world. Merit assessments began to be based, almost exclusively, on the number of publications per researcher's activity time, which does not necessarily prioritize the quality and social relevance of the research. A negative consequence of this strategy was also the emergence of several low-quality journals, which also contributed to a change in the commercial model of publishers who began to charge for the publication of scientific works (open access).
Research results must be disseminated, scientific production is a consequence of good research and brings prestige to the researcher's institution. It is therefore important to publish. But without a doubt, the most important thing is publishing with quality, impact and relevance, which necessarily requires a certain period of gestation and maturation of the research. Unicamp has, in its origins, a clear vocation for research, which must be permanently renewed in its purposes and strategies. A University like ours must be guided by research ambition and this involves the search for the new, the relevant, that which generates social impact.
Unicamp is a young institution, but it has already reached a quality standard in research that places it well above the Brazilian average standard, in all areas of knowledge. New challenges arise from this level already reached and we believe that it is the role of the University administration to promote discussions aimed at developing and, subsequently, signaling directions on quality and relevance in research. To achieve this, it is also important to pay attention to two aspects that are not contradictory, as they may seem at first, more superficial glance, but that complement each other: social relevance in view of the country's needs and cutting-edge themes in priority in large international centers .
Unicamp must also occupy a prominent position in research policies. At the same time as it internally stimulates quality, it must occupy important spaces with state and national funding bodies to contribute, with its institutional personality, to the definition of parameters and criteria for evaluating research and postgraduate programs. Unicamp also has the historical vocation of seeking to "make a difference" in academic life and in the well-being of society. It is by persevering in this disposition that you will more naturally reach new levels of scientific relevance, and consequent prestige, in all your areas of activity.
One of the ways to increase the impact and relevance of research developed at Unicamp is to increase its degree of interdisciplinarity and internationalization. For this to happen, it is necessary to stimulate interaction between different areas of research at Unicamp based on challenging themes whose solution requires this interaction. Another essential point are the international mobility actions for all professional categories of the university (undergraduate and postgraduate students, employees, teachers and researchers) and the institutional search for collaborations on a global scale, identifying strategic areas and respecting the particularities and the interests of the units.
These two themes are very expensive for the ticket Unicamp: building Tomorrow and we intend, if elected, to work to implement more focused programs of internationalization and interaction between teaching and research units, seeking cross-fertilization that leads to an increase in the quality and relevance of research for all involved. In short, we understand that Unicamp must embrace the commitment to lead the development of relevant and quality research that meets the desires of the communities that surround us, in the State of São Paulo, in Brazil and in international partnerships.
Mario Saad - Unicamp is one of the best universities in Latin America and we also want to include it in the ranking of the best universities in the world. For this, it is not enough to publish. It is necessary to seek impact and demonstrate the relevance of the research activities carried out at our university. Let this not be confused exclusively by publications in high impact factor journals. Publications in large quantities, with a high number of citations and in journals with high international visibility are important and should be encouraged, but they are not the only indicators of impact and relevance in research. We need to go further. We need to value research results that have a comprehensive impact on the scientific community and society. There are several indicators that show that we are on the right path, but we believe that we can further expand Unicamp's space in society by combining research activities with extension activities.
Unicamp has opinion leaders and scientific and artistic references in different areas of knowledge. Many may not know, but every year, researchers from Unicamp are invited to nominate names of candidates for the Nobel Prize. This is an important indicator of our institution’s global research relevance. The voices of Unicamp researchers need to be echoed and heard more continuously. Unicamp employees need to be more recognized for the influence they actually have. Interlocution with society through the media or through participation in bodies that define public policies needs to be more valued. To achieve this, we need to promote scientific dissemination and communication initiatives, in addition to encouraging the participation of Unicamp members in scientific, academic and, why not, political entities. Unicamp's impact will also be fostered by the exchange of ideas and research through interinstitutional partnerships and internationalization. Unicamp's museums will also be valued and used to transmit the knowledge generated at the university to the population of all ages.
In addition to ideas and fundamental research, Unicamp stands out for being the birthplace of innovative concepts whose applicability transforms society. These concepts will be promoted by INOVA, promoting the generation and licensing of new patents, partnerships with companies and public or private institutions, incubation of startups, etc. Furthermore, we will create the Secretariat for the Development of Research, Innovation and Extension (SDPIE), with the aim of creating conditions to bring together Unicamp's research, innovation, arts and extension skills, and companies and institutions interested in partnerships. With this, we will encourage another important activity to increase Unicamp's impact and relevance: attracting extra-budgetary resources. By promoting Unicamp's visibility, demonstrating the impact that the university has on people's daily lives and reducing bureaucratic constraints that discourage the establishment of partnerships, more resources will be attracted. On the other hand, with more resources and more efficient management, Unicamp will prove to be even more influential and relevant to society.
HIDS (International HUB for Sustainable Development) is an example of a public-private partnership that brings Unicamp closer to society and places it in a protagonist position in building a better future. The Unicamp Task Force Against COVID-19 is yet another example of a successful initiative involving Unicamp's interaction with other institutions and whose social impact has been enormous. These and other initiatives with a mixed research and extension nature will be encouraged and, as far as possible, perpetuated. Also, there is no way to forget Unicamp's role in the field of Health Care. As an example, HC serves a population of 6,5 million inhabitants in cities in the interior of São Paulo and southern Minas Gerais. Research that increases the capacity, scope and quality of care will be encouraged. Unicamp also has partnerships with the Public Ministry and other entities to support populations at social, economic or health risk. Again, research that promotes this interface will be valued. Unicamp must also be committed to reducing inequalities. Therefore, research carried out in this sense or by individuals from ethnic-racial minorities will be prioritized.
Sergio Salles-Filho - We understand the evaluation of results and impacts – of research, but not only – as a necessary practice in the university’s routine. Assessment plays a fundamental role in planning, self-knowledge and accountability to society for what the university does. We always hear that the community identifies Unicamp with the Hospital, which provides extremely valuable services, but the lack of dissemination of the results of teaching, research and extension activities is, to a large extent, our responsibility. We have to improve our communication with society, because the very social legitimacy of being a free and plural public university, which receives R$2,5 billion annually in taxes, goes through this.
When understood as a practice, evaluation needs to be constantly updated in relation to the indicators and metrics it uses, as well as in relation to data collection and analysis instruments. In all these aspects, there has been an important evolution in recent decades and it is also up to Unicamp to contribute to this evolution.
The central point of this movement is the perspective of measuring impacts, that is, the effects of research results, always considering that such impacts manifest themselves in different dimensions. It is possible to see this movement in the international rankings of universities, which are adding dimensions of impact to the traditional indicators of academic production and reputation. Another important point is the growing availability of data and the growing need for processing capacity for this data for evaluation purposes.
Initially, we consider that the evaluation of research must go beyond accounting for scientific and technological production. We must measure the number of articles in journals – but also articles in events, books and book chapters, patents and artistic works, especially because different areas of knowledge have specific dynamics for publishing their research results.
We must also use indicators to qualify these numbers, such as journal impact factors, citations, national and international collaborations, once again without disregarding the specificities of the areas. But we must still be attentive to new indicators associated with scientific production, as is the case, for example, of prominence, which dynamically classifies research topics based on recent citations and views and the impact of journals and allows us to visualize relevance of the research we have carried out. Or even, altimetry, a set of alternative metrics that mainly identify how people interact around academic work in online environments, such as social networks, blogs and bibliographic reference managers, or even if, and how, these publications are cited in patents, public policy documents or clinical trials, just to give a few examples.
The same applies to the technological production that results from research activities. We must, in the same way, measure the number of intellectual property rights deposits, but also monitor licensing and other technology transfer agreements, which is essential to go beyond accounting. The same logic applies to social innovations aimed at public policies, as well as those involving the formulation and implementation of new products, processes, services or models (organizational, management, governance, relationships) specifically aimed at meeting needs and to confront social problems (Unicamp Institutional Assessment Report 2014-2018).
The measurement of other types of research and extension impacts – social, economic, environmental – are equally relevant and impose greater methodological challenges, precisely because it is necessary to be attentive to the attribution of causality between research and extension activities and their consequences, whether for quality of life, formulation of public policies, job creation, competitiveness, among others. However, despite the challenges, measuring impacts is important to understand that in addition to the excellent research that Unicamp produces, we have responsible and relevant research for social, economic and environmental development at regional, national and even international levels.
Recently, Capes announced that Postgraduate Programs will need to carry out self-evaluation, in addition to planning, which could be a good pilot for research impact assessments within the scope of Unicamp, to be later organized at an institutional level.
It is understood that the change in culture with regard to research evaluation also involves the inclusion of indicators related to the process of carrying out research at the University. Identifying Open Science practices and diversity of research teams are, among others, fundamental elements in this aspect.
To enable and systematize this impact assessment practice, it is extremely important that Unicamp is able to organize its data internally and have access to various data bases and platforms, which can be integrated to generate the desired information. In addition, it is necessary to mobilize skills – among many that already exist at Unicamp itself and from national and international partners – to carry out the different stages involved in these exercises.
Our management will support the programs and units so that the evaluation methodologies provide relevant information for the different areas of knowledge, useful for understanding more and better what we do and the effects of what we do.
