DBF · Development and Verification of a Bibliometric model for the Identification of Frontier Research

The goal of the proposed work is to provide a bibliometric monitoring for the peer review process of the ERC grant schemes. Particular interest will be devoted to the extent the grant applications fulfil attributes of frontier research and the influence of these attributes on the decision of the panels. For this purpose, bibliometric parameters corresponding to what was defined as frontier research by the EC’s High Level Expert Group (HLEG) in 2005 will be elaborated and applied on the relevant information available in the grant applications as well as in the relevant publications authored by the applicants prior to their submission of their grant application. By doing so, a bibliometric ranking of the submitted applications will be obtained which can be compared to the ranking/selection made by the peer review process. By comparing the two rankings, it shall be found out whether the peer review process shows a systematic bias in one or more categories of researchers or projects. A per case analysis for the most evident deviations will be carried out under the involvement of experts in the respective field in order to identify either the need for adaptations in the bibliometric model or the need for drafting suggestions for the improvement of the peer review process. The work shall result in a methodology that allows the ERC to monitor the operation of the peer review process from a bibliometric perspective and potentially shall yield additional elements in the future execution of the peer review process. Such elements could be periodic monitoring activities for each call or a methodology for the pre-evaluation of future grant applications in order to support the reviewers or the panel members with an additional input and orientation for the assessment of such applications.