Publishing in the social sciences and its representation in research evaluation and funding systems

The paper describes the full range of publishing and its purposes in the social sciences – from scholarly publishing via professional communication to societal interaction in public media – and how it is represented in five different contexts for research evaluation and funding. The five contexts are: applications for external project funding, applications for positions or promotions, indicator-based institutional funding systems, summative organizational evaluation systems, and formative organizational evaluation systems. The chapter provides a critical discussion of how publications from the social sciences may be filtered out or placed in predetermined hierarchies in these evaluation and funding contexts, and also of how the evaluation and funding procedures can be improved to appropriately represent social science research and publishing.

Your Brother’s Gatekeeper: How Effects of Evaluation Machineries in Research Are Sometimes Enhanced

Many warnings are issued against the influence of evaluation machineries (such as bibliometric indicators) upon research practices. It is often argued that human judgment can function as a bulwark against constitutive effects of evaluation machineries. Using vignettes (small case narratives) related to the Danish Bibliometric Research Indicator (BRI), this chapter shows that gatekeepers who “know the future” and use this “knowledge” in a preemptive or precautionary way play a key role in the construction of reality which comes out of the BRI. By showing that human judgment sometimes enhances or multiplies the effects of evaluation machineries, this chapter contributes to an understanding of mechanisms which lead to constitutive effects of evaluation systems in research.

Journal Evaluation Systems: Evolution and Practices in China’s Social Sciences

Journal evaluation systems play an important role in academic evaluation. With many papers published in high-ranking journals, one can expect greater success in grant applications, higher internal resource allocations, faster promotions, and access to many other trappings of academic life. The expansion of China’s research and development systems and its rise as a significant contributor to global innovation have seen journal evaluation become a significant and much-scrutinized issue. Thus, in this chapter, we offer a comprehensive analysis of the current state-of-the-art in journal evaluation systems and practices. The review begins with a history of social science journal evaluation in China. We then systematically compare the two most influential journal lists of the present day: the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) and the “Attraction, Management and Influence” Comprehensive Evaluation Report (AMI). A small selection of influential lists produced by universities, research institutions, and professional associations are also discussed. The material presented provides deep insights into how social sciences research in China is assessed. These findings may also reveal some information about the journal evaluation activities of other countries. Overall, our aim is to make a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of journal evaluation so as to promote the sustainable and healthy development of journal management and evaluation systems both in China and abroad.

An overview of science evaluation in Poland and Croatia

Science is considered to be the driving force of society and the economy; therefore, adequate evaluation and allocation of funds are necessary for achieving this. This paper briefly presents issues of the trends in the evaluation of scientific activities in Poland and Croatia. Based on the literature review, differences in the evaluation systems of individual countries have been noted, as well as several recommendations.

Upscaling Remote Sensing Inversion Model of Wheat Field Cultivated Land Quality in the Huang-Huai-Hai Agricultural Region, China

It is an objective demand for sustainable agricultural development to realize fast and accurate cultivated land quality assessment. In this paper, Tengzhou city (county-scale hilly area: scale A), Shanghe county (county-scale plain area: scale B), and Huang-Huai-Hai region (including large-scale hilly and plain area: scale C and D) were taken as research areas. Through the conversion of evaluation systems, the inversion models at the county-scale were constructed. Then, the image scale conversion was carried out based on the numerical regression method, and the upscaling inversion was realized. The results showed that: (1) the conversion models of evaluation systems (CMES) are Y = 1.021x − 4.989 (CMESA−B), Y = 0.801x + 16.925 (CMESA−C), and Y = 0.959x + 3.458 (CMESC−D); (2) the booting stage is the best inversion phase; (3) the back propagation neural network model based on the combination index group (CI-BPNN) is the best inversion model, with the R2 are 0.723 (modeling set) and 0.722 (verification set). CI-BPNN and CI-BPNN-CMESA−B models are suitable for the hilly and plain areas at the county-scale, and the level area ratio difference is less than 4.87%. Furthermore, (4) the reflectance conversion model of short-wave infrared 2 is cubic, and the rest are quadratic. CI-BPNN-CMESA−C and CI-BPNN-CMESA−C-CMESC−D models realized upscaling inversion in the hilly and plain areas, with the maximum level area ratio difference being 1.60%. Additionally, (5) the wheat field quality has improved steadily since 2001 in the Huang-Huai-Hai region. This study proposes an upscaling inversion method of wheat field quality, which provides a scientific basis for cultivated land management and agricultural production in large areas.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEMS AND PERFORMANCE OF URBAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: A CASE OF TOWN COUNCILS IN JINJA DISTRICT, EASTERN UGANDA

Purpose: The study investigated the relationship between Monitoring and Evaluation systems and performance of Urban local governments in Jinja District of Eastern Uganda. Specifically, the study focused on establishing the relationship between M&E systems inputs, M&E systems process, M&E systems outputs and performance of Urban local governments in Jinja District. Methodology: The study used a cross sectional study design employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The population (112) of the study consisted of the Town clerks, Political leaders and Town council employees to which simple random sampling was applied. Quantitative data was collected from a sample of 76 respondents using researcher administered questionnaire. Responses were rated on a 5-Likert scale and analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistic using SPSS software presented in tables. Qualitative data was collected from 10 key informants using interview guides analyzed using content analysis and presented as text. Findings: Correlational analysis revealed that a significant and a strong positive linear relationship between performance of urban local governments in Jinja District and M&E systems inputs (r= 0.730**, p < 0.05), M&E system process (r= 0.814**, p < 0.05) and M&E system outputs (r= 0.739**, p < 0.05). Regression analysis showed a significant and positive influence of M&E system inputs (β=-.203, p=.001, <0.05), M&E system process (β=.071, p=.001, <0.05) and M&E system outputs (β=.315, p=.000, <0.05) on the performance of urban local governments in Jinja District. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: There are weaknesses in the M&E systems in urban local governments in Jinja District in terms of failure to track results despite the huge investments in area of M&E. Therefore, there is need to strengthen the M&E systems of urban local governments in Jinja district by; placing trained M&E human resource; developing M&E frameworks and developing costed M&E work plans Future studies should examine the perception of local government employees on the institutionalization of M&E system in the public sector of Uganda.

Evaluating Technological Innovation of Media Companies from the Perspective of Technological Ecosystem

The evaluating indicators on the benefits of innovative technology to media companies are preliminarily analyzed and evaluated, according to the research review and evaluating criteria of self-organization and ecosystem selection. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling are used to further explore and select the indicators. According to the results, from the perspective of technology ecosystem, innovative technology performance of media companies can be measured through a two-factor structure—the input of innovative technology and its output. On this basis, ANP (analytic network process) is used to establish a weighted evaluation of indicators. At the end of the paper, a complete set of evaluation systems was created to measure the performance of technology innovation.