Regional and institutional trends in assessment for academic promotion

FOLEC-CLACSO recommends reading the article "Regional and institutional trends in assessment for academic promotion", published in the magazine Nature (Vol. 638, February 13, 2025), and signed by a large international team of authors, including Luciana Balboa, fellow traveler of FOLECThis fills us with pride and commitment to these fundamental debates for our academic communities.

This study analyzes over 500 institutional and national academic promotion policies in 121 countries, revealing global trends in evaluation criteria for tenure. The research offers a comparative perspective on the use of quantitative indicators (such as publications, citations, and patents) and qualitative indicators (such as social impact, mentorship, interdisciplinarity, and professional development), highlighting differences across regions, policy types, and countries' income levels. It provides valuable input for developing more inclusive, diverse, and contextualized evaluation models.

It is worth noting that the article It recovers and values ​​the contribution of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) through the work of FOLEC, explicitly citing the initiative "A New Research Assessment towards a Socially Relevant Science in Latin America and the Caribbean", as well as the role of Latin American Forum for Scientific Evaluation (FOLEC) as a key reference in building a transformative agenda situated in our region. This mention reinforces the importance of consolidating evaluation frameworks that prioritize the social relevance of science and the commitment to knowledge as a common good.

The full article is available in open access and can be viewed here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08422-9