The Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) has published a new white paper urging research funders, institutions and policymakers to integrate societal impact as a core criterion in research assessment – alongside academic excellence.
Titled Transformative Research Assessment: Integrating Societal Impacts into Evaluation Frameworks, the publication argues that current assessment systems remain overly focused on publications and citation metrics, despite growing expectations for research to contribute to solutions for major societal challenges such as climate change, social inequality and public health crises. According to the authors, research assessment must better recognise credible contributions to real-world change, while keeping evaluation processes proportionate and feasible.
The white paper introduces a pluralistic understanding of societal impact, acknowledging that impacts emerge in diverse forms, over different timeframes, and through collaboration with a wide range of partners. It proposes a shared framework built around six guiding principles, including societal relevance, co-creation with stakeholders, planning for impact from the outset, and balancing accountability with learning.
From principles to practice
Beyond conceptual guidance, the publication places strong emphasis on implementation. It provides concrete, role-specific recommendations for research funders, universities and policymakers on how societal impact can be embedded into existing assessment and funding systems. Suggested measures include training evaluators, aligning incentives so that societal engagement is recognised in recruitment and promotion, funding pilot projects with interim impact indicators, and using practical tools such as impact-planning templates and outcome notes.The authors stress that societal impact and academic excellence should not be seen as competing objectives. Instead, they are presented as mutually reinforcing dimensions of high-quality research, particularly in mission-oriented and challenge-driven research contexts.
A community-endorsed CoARA milestone
The white paper is the first publication formally endorsed by the CoARA community and the first output featured in the CoARA Collection, a resource library designed to support practical research assessment reform. More than 60 experts from over 30 European institutions contributed to the work through CoARA’s Working Group Towards Transformation, within the ‘Societal Impact’ subgroup.
The subgroup is co-chaired by Professor Raimund Bleischwitz, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), and Professor Teresa Sordé Martí of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. ZMT, representing the Leibniz Association, serves as lead institution and funder for the subgroup.
By translating lessons from European research and innovation practice into actionable governance options, the publication aims to support alignment with initiatives such as Horizon Europe, the European Union missions, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Read the report Transformative Research Assessment: Integrating Societal Impacts into Evaluation Frameworks.
Read COARA’s press release.
