Eight clusters : a dynamic perspective and structural analysis for the evaluation of institutional research performance

The main theme of the thesis is assessment of institutional research performance. It is a theme of great importance not only to our centre but also in many other countries or regions. The number of countries who developed (or are still developing) systems for assessment exercises or for institutional funding is rapidly increasing. However comparability between those national systems or between institutions with different profiles remains problematic. This thesis presents a new Dynamic Perspective on research performance. It is based on four fundamental principles and combines the use of bibliometric indicators with a structural analysis of the research profile of institutes. This structural analysis allows the classification of institutions based on the fields in which they are active. The main contributions of the thesis are that it stresses the need for a differentiated approach for the assessment of research institutions and that the thesis proves that a classifcation based on research profiles is a valid approach to enhance intercomparability of research institutes. Other contributions come with different applications of the model.LEI Universiteit LeidenFSW - CWTS - Ou