Research Guides: Promoting &amp; Preserving Scholarship: Impact

What is research impact?

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"...the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy.

This can include both:

academic impact, which is the demonstrable contribution that excellent social and economic research makes in shifting understanding and advancing scientific method, theory and application across and within disciplines
economic and societal impact, which is the demonstrable contribution that excellent social and economic research has on society and the economy, and its benefits to individuals, organisations or nations."¹

Demonstrating research impact depends on purpose and audience — meaning that how we describe the impact of a particular research project or activity may change based on contextual circumstances. Common circumstances include:

Audience

Prospective students
Peer researchers
Institution administration
Government agencies
Hiring committees
General public

Purpose

Securing funding & support
Performance evaluations
Promotion
Accreditation
Marketing
Recruiting collaborators

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Many countries and institutions consider impact to be only that which makes contributions outside of academia (such as changes to policy or practice). This is an important distinction depending on your collaborators, funders, or audience.

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Economic and Social Research Council. (2022, June 23). Defining impact. Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://www.ukri.org/councils/esrc/impact-toolkit-for-economic-and-social-sciences/defining-impact/

Levels of Impact Description

There are four basic levels on which we seek to describe impact. The appropriate methods for doing so also depend on the level we are attempting to describe.

Output - The impact of a single work, such as a journal article, which may have one or multiple authors.
Author - The cumulative impact of all of the works that a single individual has written or created.
Group - The cumulative impact of a defined set of related authors, such as a research group, department, university, or institution.
Venue - The impact of a particular publication, such as an academic journal, often based on the cumulative impact of works it has published.

This guide focuses on the levels of Output, Author, and Group. For details on Venue impact, see our guide Journal Publication Outlets.

Tools & Resources

The Metrics Toolkit provides evidence-based information about research metrics across disciplines, including how each metric is calculated, where you can find it, and how each should (and should not) be applied. You’ll also find examples of how to use metrics in grant applications, CV, and promotion packages.

OurResearch is an organization that supports open research through a variety of tools and websites. Projects include:

Impactstory Profiles: A researcher impact profile that highlights the impact of Open Science activities.
Paperbuzz: An open source of altmetrics data, based on Crosref Event Data.
Depsy: An analytic platform to show the full impact of research software.

SPARC is a non-profit advocacy organization that supports systems for research and education that are open by default and equitable by design. Their popular resources include a primer that can be found on their Article Level Metrics page.

International Perspectives on Research Impact and Excellence

Australia

Australian Research Council (ARC) Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Engagement and Impact Assessment.

China

China’s Research Evaluation Reform: What are the Consequences for Global Science? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11024-022-09468-7
A comprehensive analysis of the journal evaluation system in China https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00103

India

https://www.impriindia.com/

United Kingdom

UK Research Excellence Framework (REF): What is the REF?
UKRI REF Impact overview with link to the REF Impact Case Studies database.

United States

NSF Broader Impacts https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/learn/broader-impacts

Image Credits:

Domino photo by Bradyn Trollip on Unsplash
Purpose by Phonlaphat Thongsriphong from NounProject.com
Human by Phonlaphat Thongsriphong from NounProject.com
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Atmosphere image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
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