Academic Rankings and Research Governance
IEW Working Paper No. 482
29 Pages Posted: 24 Mar 2010
Date Written: March 11, 2010
Abstract
Academic rankings today are the backbone of research governance, which seem to fit the aims of “new public management” on the one side and the idea of the “republic of science” on the other side. Nevertheless rankings recently came under scrutiny. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of academic rankings, in particular their unintended negative consequences on the research process. To counterbalance these negative consequences we suggest (a) rigorous selection and socialization, and (b) downplaying the impact of rankings in order to reconcile academic self-governance with accountability to the public.
Keywords: Peer reviews, rankings, research governance, psychological economics, new public management, economics of science, control theory
JEL Classification: H52, H83, I23, J44, L38
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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