ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN IMPLEMENTING RESEARCH ASSESSMENT POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF OPEN SCIENCE

Documents of the European Research Area and the European University Association have been analyzed regarding policies and mechanisms for assessing the quality of universities’ research activities based on the principles and approaches of Open Science: European Commission’s Action Plan for Research Assessment Reform (2024), Report on Research Assessment (2024), and The EUA Open Science Agenda 2025 (2022). The European Commission’s Action Plan on reforming research assessment systems in line with Open Science principles (2024), Report on Research Assessment (2024). The analysis of the European University Association’s document, The EUA Open Science Agenda (2025), revealed that research assessment is a key priority. The policy on research assessment emphasizes the need to combine qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the quality and impact of research activities. A critical mass of European universities is engaged in discussions on developing and implementing more responsible, transparent, and sustainable practices for assessing research activities and careers, including incentives and rewards for Open Science throughout the research process. Assessment approaches should appropriately balance qualitative expert review with quantitative indicators, account for the evaluation’s context and purpose, use broad definitions of quality and impact, and align with institutional missions and values. The analysis of national plans/programs for the development of Open Science in European countries showed that: there is a trend toward transforming research assessment systems from a focus on quantitative performance indicators to the use of qualitative R&D evaluation; a challenge for advancing Open Science in the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area is the insufficient recognition of researchers’ efforts to apply open practices; there is a decreasing weight of bibliometric indicators and an increasing importance of evaluating contributions to Open Science and related activities; the implementation of Open Science practices requires monitoring of this process, assessing (both quantitatively and qualitatively) researchers’ engagement in Open Science, and identifying possible challenges and barriers.