Short-term incentives of research evaluations: Evidence from the UK Research Excellence Framework

Moqi Groen-Xu, Gregor Bös, Pedro A. Teixeira, Thomas Voigt, Bernhard Knapp

Research Policy · 2023 · Volume 52 · Issue 6

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104729

Abstract

We document incentive effects of the evaluation deadlines in the UK’s performance-based research funding system. Studying 3,597,272 publications by UK researchers, we find that publications just before assessment deadlines obtain substantially fewer citations and are published in venues with lower impact factors. These trends reverse abruptly after the deadlines. We discuss different factors that contribute to this observation and provide evidence that evaluation deadlines are likely to set incentives against investment in research quality and long-term topics. We conclude that where such shifts in research incentives are not intended, they might require balancing by additional incentives for exploratory, long-term oriented research.

Keywords

Incentives, University, Research funding systems, Economics of science, Evaluation effects

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