Ian Mulvany

December 21, 2024

Impact indicators, and clarivate.

I just had a quick read through https://clarivate.com/academia-government/blog/introducing-a-comprehensive-framework-for-evaluating-the-societal-impact-of-research/

I have two immediate thoughts. 

1) It gives me the heebie jeebies that clarivate are doing this, while at the same time it is very clear why they are. By virtue of their main measure having become the target in scholarship, they have disproportionate power in the scholarly publishing ecosystem, irrespective of how they feel about this. I am not convinced that any new perspective groom them will be immune from Goodheart’s law. 

2) Surely what they are proposing is needed - a systematic and data driven comparison of how institutions fall within an impact space? 

About Ian Mulvany

Hi, I'm Ian - I work on academic publishing systems. You can find out more about me at mulvany.net. I'm always interested in engaging with folk on these topics, if you have made your way here don't hesitate to reach out if there is anything you want to share, discuss, or ask for help with!