Periodic Evaluation of Research, Development, Artistic and Other Creative Activities

The Periodic Evaluation of Research, Development, Artistic and Other Creative Activities (abbreviated as Periodic Evaluation), or Verification of Excellence in Research 2022 (abbreviated as VER 2022), was a peer-review evaluation of the publishing and other creative activities of Slovak scientific and research institutions (public universities and public research institutions) for the period 2014-2019. The subjects of the evaluation were the creative outputs produced by Slovak public universities and public research institutions. The Periodic Evaluation was administrated by the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic (at the time of the evaluation: the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic), through its Department of Methodology and Evaluation of Creative Activities.

 

The results of VER 2022 are available here: https://ver.cvtisr.sk/vysledky/ 
 

At the beginning of the evaluation process, each public university and public research institution, or their parts, submitted applications for evaluation in one or more of the 28 research areas (falling under 7 main groups of research areas). Each application contained a maximum of 25 outputs (scientific articles, monographs, conference papers, artistic outputs, etc.) in a specific research area. A maximum of 5 outputs were submitted per each scientist. The final selection of outputs per each application for Periodic Evaluation was set on the basis of an attempt to respect the principles of representativeness and evenness.

 

Main groups of research areas	Research areas
Natural Sciences	Physical Sciences Chemical Sciences Mathematics Biological Sciences Earth Sciences Environmental and Ecological Sciences
Technical Sciences	Civil Engineering and Architecture Metallurgy and Materials Science Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Computer and Information Sciences
Medicine	Basic Medicine Clinical Medicine Health Sciences
Agricultural, Forestry and Veterinary Sciences	Agricultural, Forestry and Veterinary Sciences
Social Sciences	Political Science Media and Communications Sociology and Social Anthropology Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Education Social Work Economics and Business Law
Humanities	Philosophy and Theology Languages and Literature History and Archaeology
Arts and Theory of Art	Performing Arts and Related Art Fields Visual Arts and Related Art Fields

 

Thanks to the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic, evaluation committees, composed primarily of foreign experts from 19 countries and 66 universities (e.g. the University of Cambridge, Princeton University, McGill University, University of Melbourne, Technische Universität München, ETH Zurich, Université Paris-Saclay, Sapienza Università di Roma, etc.), were set up in 2022 to evaluate the level of Slovak science from the perspective of the international scientific community.

 

For each of the research areas, an international assessment committee (the so-called Research Area Committee) was selected by the Council for the Periodic Evaluation of Science, Research and Higher Education Institutions to evaluate the applications in the given scientific area. At the same time, the members of the panels for each of the groups of research areas (called Research Area Panels) were also selected by the Council for the Periodic Evaluation. These panels oversaw the work of the research area sub-panels, the evaluation process itself, and the consistent application of qualitative criteria in the evaluation of applications submitted for each research area.

 

In the period between September and December 2022, each of the project evaluation committees not only assessed the quality of the outputs themselves, but also produced a methodology and specific criteria for assessing the quality of research, taking into account the specificities of scientific research in the particular research area.

The inspiration for the Periodic Evaluation of Research, Development, Artistic and Other Creative Activities was drawn from proven foreign systems of science evaluation, in particular the British Research Excellence Framework (REF for short). The VER 2022 was the first evaluation in the history of independent Slovakia that was based on the assessment of the real quality of creative outputs, without taking into account quantitative measurable parameters of science and research. The results of the Periodic Evaluation will be reflected in the funding of science and research in the Slovak Republic, starting in 2024. 

In the framework of the VER 2022 evaluation, only the quality of scientific outputs was assessed. However, the Periodic Evaluation VER 2026 will also include an assessment of the impact of research, development, artistic and other creative activities outside of academia, as well as an assessment of the environment of research, development, artistic and other creative activities. The Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth has prepared a guide for applicants, with a selection of case studies (taken from the UK REF evaluation), illustrating how to declare the impact of scientific and creative activities, as well as how to describe the environment of research, development, artistic and other creative activities. 

 

If you have any questions or comments about the Periodic Evaluation, please email us at ver@minedu.sk.