Challenges of research assessment oriented towards knowledge mobilization in the transition to open science: an analysis based on the case of the Working Groups from the Latin American Council of Social Sciences

Abstract

Various recent debates and initiatives have once again brought to the forefront the need to reform research evaluation and its greater link with society, based on a growing openness, collaboration and participation in the field of knowledge, following some of the principles of transition to open science. The foregoing entails multiple challenges for the design of research promotion instruments and their evaluation. Taking as a sample case an experience in the Research Area of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (Clacso), this article aims to describe and analyze the challenges of evaluating research aimed at mobilizing knowledge, based on the configuration of Clacso’s Groups of Work, with a focus on the criteria of the 2019-2022 call. In particular, the specific characteristics of the evaluation criteria involved in this program and its scope in relation to inclusion, openness, collaboration and interaction with society are explored. The approach is qualitative in nature and benefits from the collection of mainly documentary data related to the bases of the call for the 2019-2022 Working Groups, the evaluation grids used and the organizational actions promoted around some of the principles of open access and open science.