Reducing frequency of assessment

Reducing how frequently researchers are assessed, for example by requiring fewer assessment during their career or by increasing the funding periods.
Level 0
Challenge - Process
Challenge - Process Culture
Challenge - Different Questions
CoARA Commitment 2
CoARA Commitment 6
User - Funder
User - Institutes
Contributor

Experiments in Assessment WG

Last updated

March 10, 2026

WarningObjectives and potential outcome

Reducing the frequency of assessment is meant to give room for higher quality assessment by enabling applicants to spend more time preparing fewer high quality applications rather than focusing on a high volume of frequently recurring applications and by freeing time from reviewers for more in-depth evaluations.

Research domains

This would involve looking at the assessments currently in place and questionning whether they are really needed. This may apply especially in research institutions where repeated assessments for promotion and employment continuation generally take place. This could also relate to streamlining assessments or changing the intensity of assessment.

Context and considerations

This would generally imply reducing how frequently researchers are assessed either by increasing the funding periods or by increasing employment duration, but it could also imply shifting the focus of intensity (full CV vs focus on one element of the process to provide feedback on selected elements) so the evaluation takes a lighter touch. For funders, this could also be part of lighter audit report requiremewnts and shifting the assessment to provide feedback rather than being based solely as an evaluative exercise.

Challenges and mitigations

Certain challenges include:
- Could lead to bigger implications for not performing well
- Reducing the frequency of career assessment may also reduce the frequency of constructive feedback
- For Funders: giving longer grants could reduce assessment frequency but also leads to higher stakes

Evaluating success

Relevant resources and literature

The SCOPE Framework for Research Evaluation mentions how crucial it is to “Evaluate only where necessary”, stressing that evaluation is not always the right strategy, especially when the desired outcome is a behaviour change. https://inorms.net/scope-framework-for-research-evaluation/

Templates from funders and institutions

Case examples and literature

In their new career and evaluation policy for professional staff, Ghent University mentioned that one of their core achievements was to reduce the frequency of assessment to five years, mentioning that the higher frequency of assessment from the previous evaluation policy “put a high administrative burden on the professors and faculty staff, with a lot of paperwork to fill in, at a high evaluation frequency”. More information on their motivation for change is available in the DORA case study they detailed in 2020. https://sfdora.org/case-study/ghent-university/

Other resources

Comments/lived examples