Challenges and perspectives of academic evaluation

• Published in: Revista de saúde pública Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 829 - 833
• Main Author: Bastos, Francisco Inácio P M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Brazil Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo 01.08.2013; Universidade de São Paulo
• Subjects: Brazil; Humans; Indicadores de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion; Indicadores de Produccion Cientifica; Information Dissemination; Public Health; PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; Publicaciones Periodicas como Asunto; Research - standards; Research Personnel - standards; Research Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Science - standards; Sistemas de Creditos y Evaluacion de Investigadores; SOCIOLOGY; Brazil; Indicadores de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacao; Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators; Indicadores de Produccion Cientifica; Publicaciones Periodicas como Asunto; Sistemas de Creditos y Evaluacion de Investigadores; Publicacoes Periodicas como Assunto; Indicadores de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion; Sistemas de Creditos e Avaliacao de Pesquisadores; Researcher Performance Evaluation Systems; Indicadores de Producao Cientifica; Periodicals as Topic; Scientific Publication Indicators
• ISSN: 0034-8910; 1518-8787; 1518-8787; 0034-8910
• DOI: 10.1590/S0034-8910.2013047004988

Academic evaluation has been an essential component of modern science since its inception, as science has moved away from personalized patronage toward its contemporary role as an essential enterprise of contemporary, democratic societies. In recent years, Brazil has experienced sustained growth in its scientific output, which is nowadays fully compatible with its status as a high middle-income country striving to become a fully developed, more equitable country in the years to come. Growth usually takes place amidst challenges and dilemmas and, in Brazil as elsewhere, academic evaluation is not exempt from such difficulties. In a large, profoundly heterogeneous country with a national evaluation system and nationwide on-line platforms disseminating information on the most disparate fields of knowledge, the main challenges refer to how to pay attention to detail without losing sight of comprehensiveness and how to handle social and regional diversity while preserving academic excellence as the fundamental benchmark.