Evaluation Methods for R&D in European Countries

The paper is a case study of the experience of developing and using systems for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of scientific research within British, Dutch and Finnish universities and other fundamental scientific centers. The article aims at showing key organizational and methodical approaches for assessing the effectiveness of research in Western European countries against the background of the ensuing discussion about the role of quantitative and peer review methods in analyzing research results. Descriptive, historical and comparative methods are used. The assessments of quality and the state of research in the selected group of countries are found to be based mainly on the complexity and ambiguity of scientific pursuit and, consequently, on understanding that the evaluation of research effectiveness should be multidimensional and complex, that it should rest on expert quality assessment and quantitative (scientometric and bibliometric) indicators, the latter not to be dominant, but to serve as an advantage to expert judgment. The article gives new detailed and more complete (than the analogical works) analysis of the systems and criteria for assessing the quality of research together with the factors underlying their evolution in the three European countries with highly developed national scientific systems. There is shown the formation of modern evaluation systems in accordance with the needs for the development of scientific potential and with the need to strengthen its competitiveness on the international arena. This made it possible to draw valid conclusions about the essential general features of the assessment systems and about their adaptation to national characteristics, and to formulate recommendations on using the experience of Western European countries to improve the practice of evaluating research activities in Russian universities and research institutes. The results of the work may as well be of interest to researchers, university professors, postgraduates, students, and also to all those interested in topical issues of developing the science of science.