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A review of literature on evaluating the scientific, social and political impact of social sciences and humanities research

Author

Listed:
  • Emanuela Reale
  • Dragana Avramov
  • Kubra Canhial
  • Claire Donovan
  • Ramon Flecha
  • Poul Holm
  • Charles Larkin
  • Benedetto Lepori
  • Judith Mosoni-Fried
  • Esther Oliver
  • Emilia Primeri
  • Lidia Puigvert
  • Andrea Scharnhorst
  • Andràs Schubert
  • Marta Soler
  • Sàndor Soòs
  • Teresa Sordé
  • Charles Travis
  • René Van Horik

Abstract

Recently, the need to contribute to the evaluation of the scientific, social, and political impact of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research has become a demand of policy makers and society. The international scientific community has made significant advances that have transformed the impact of evaluation landscape. This article reviews the existing scientific knowledge on evaluation tools and techniques that are applied to assess the scientific impact of SSH research; the changing structure of social and political impacts of SSH research is investigated based on an overarching research question: to what extent do scholars attempt to apply methods, instruments, and approaches that take into account the distinctive features of SSH? The review also includes examples of European Union (EU) projects that demonstrate these impacts. This article culminates in a discussion of the development of the assessment of different impacts and identifies limitations, and areas and topics to explore in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuela Reale & Dragana Avramov & Kubra Canhial & Claire Donovan & Ramon Flecha & Poul Holm & Charles Larkin & Benedetto Lepori & Judith Mosoni-Fried & Esther Oliver & Emilia Primeri & Lidia Puigvert, 2018. "A review of literature on evaluating the scientific, social and political impact of social sciences and humanities research," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 298-308.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:27:y:2018:i:4:p:298-308.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zhenyu Gou & Fan Meng & Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez & Yi Bu, 2022. "Encoding the citation life-cycle: the operationalization of a literature-aging conceptual model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 5027-5052, August.
    2. Marra, Mita, 2022. "Productive interactions in digital training partnerships: Lessons learned for regional development and university societal impact assessment," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Bührer, Susanne & Feidenheimer, Alexander & Walz, Rainer & Lindner, Ralf & Beckert, Bernd & Wallwaey, Elisa, 2022. "Concepts and methods to measure societal impacts: An overview," Discussion Papers "Innovation Systems and Policy Analysis" 74, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    4. Blanca L. Díaz Mariño & Frida Carmina Caballero-Rico & Ramón Ventura Roque Hernández & José Alberto Ramírez de León & Daniel Alejandro González-Bandala, 2021. "Towards the Construction of Productive Interactions for Social Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Esther Roca & Patricia Melgar & Regina Gairal-Casadó & Miguel A. Pulido-Rodríguez, 2020. "Schools That ‘Open Doors’ to Prevent Child Abuse in Confinement by COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Filippo Chiarello & Gualtiero Fantoni, 2021. "Impact for whom? Mapping the users of public research with lexicon-based text mining," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1745-1774, February.
    7. Chi-Swian Wong, 2021. "Science Mapping: A Scientometric Review on Resource Curses, Dutch Diseases, and Conflict Resources during 1993–2020," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-48, July.
    8. Alessandro Margherita & Gianluca Elia & Claudio Petti, 2022. "What Is Quality in Research? Building a Framework of Design, Process and Impact Attributes and Evaluation Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Alba Viana Lora & Marta Gemma Nel-lo Andreu, 2020. "Alternative Metrics for Assessing the Social Impact of Tourism Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-12, May.
    10. Justyna Winkowska & Danuta Szpilko, 2020. "Methodology for Integration of Smart City Dimensions in the Socialised Process of Creating City Development," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 524-547.
    11. Ole Henning Sørensen & Jakob Bjørner & Andreas Holtermann & Johnny Dyreborg & Jorid Birkelund Sørli & Jesper Kristiansen & Steffen Bohni Nielsen, 2022. "Measuring societal impact of research—Developing and validating an impact instrument for occupational health and safety," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 118-131.
    12. Cristina Mendoza-Holgado & Pablo A. Cantero-Garlito & Sabina Barrios-Fernandez, 2023. "Gender Composition in Occupational Therapy Journals’ Editorial Boards," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Susanne Bührer & Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt & Rachel Palmén & Sybille Reidl, 2020. "Evaluating gender equality effects in research and innovation systems," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1459-1475, November.
    14. Antonia Moreno Cano & Rafael Romón Sagredo & Rocío García-Carrión & Begonya Garcia-Zapirain, 2020. "Social Impact Assessment of HealthyAIR Tool for Real-Time Detection of Pollution Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-21, November.
    15. Václav Linkov & Kieran O’Doherty & Eunsoo Choi & Gyuseog Han, 2021. "Linguistic Diversity Index: A Scientometric Measure to Enhance the Relevance of Small and Minority Group Languages," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    16. Raminta Pranckutė, 2021. "Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The Titans of Bibliographic Information in Today’s Academic World," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-59, March.
    17. Jorrit P Smit & Laurens K Hessels, 2021. "The production of scientific and societal value in research evaluation: a review of societal impact assessment methods [Systems Thinking, Knowledge and Action: Towards Better Models and Methods]," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 323-335.
    18. Florian Findler, 2021. "Toward a sustainability assessment framework of research impacts: Contributions of a business school," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 1190-1203, November.
    19. Elina Jaakkola & Stephen L. Vargo, 2021. "Assessing and enhancing the impact potential of marketing articles," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(3), pages 407-415, December.
    20. Beatriz Villarejo-Carballido & Cristina M. Pulido & Harkaitz Zubiri-Esnaola & Esther Oliver, 2022. "Young People’s Voices and Science for Overcoming Toxic Relationships Represented in Sex Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    21. Concepta McManus & Abilio Afonso Baeta Neves & Alvaro Toubes Prata, 2021. "Scientific publications from non-academic sectors and their impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(11), pages 8887-8911, November.
    22. Benedikt Fecher & Freia Kuper & Nataliia Sokolovska & Alex Fenton & Stefan Hornbostel & Gert G. Wagner, 2021. "Understanding the Societal Impact of the Social Sciences and Humanities: Remarks on Roles, Challenges, and Expectations," RatSWD Working Papers 276, German Data Forum (RatSWD).
    23. Cristina M. Pulido & Laura Ruiz-Eugenio & Gisela Redondo-Sama & Beatriz Villarejo-Carballido, 2020. "A New Application of Social Impact in Social Media for Overcoming Fake News in Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-15, April.

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