TY - JOUR
AU - Rebecca Abma-Schouten
AU - Joey Gijbels
AU - Wendy Reijmerink
AU - Ingeborg Meijer
AB - Panel peer review is widely used to decide which research proposals receive funding. Through this exploratory observational study at two large biomedical and health research funders in the Netherlands, we gain insight into how scientific quality and societal relevance are discussed in panel meetings. We explore, in ten review panel meetings of biomedical and health funding programmes, how panel composition and formal assessment criteria affect the arguments used. We observe that more scientific arguments are used than arguments related to societal relevance and expected impact. Also, more diverse panels result in a wider range of arguments, largely for the benefit of arguments related to societal relevance and impact. We discuss how funders can contribute to the quality of peer review by creating a shared conceptual framework that better defines research quality and societal relevance. We also contribute to a further understanding of the role of diverse peer review panels.
BT - Science and Public Policy
DA - 2023-08
DO - 10.1093/scipol/scad009
IS - 4
N2 - Panel peer review is widely used to decide which research proposals receive funding. Through this exploratory observational study at two large biomedical and health research funders in the Netherlands, we gain insight into how scientific quality and societal relevance are discussed in panel meetings. We explore, in ten review panel meetings of biomedical and health funding programmes, how panel composition and formal assessment criteria affect the arguments used. We observe that more scientific arguments are used than arguments related to societal relevance and expected impact. Also, more diverse panels result in a wider range of arguments, largely for the benefit of arguments related to societal relevance and impact. We discuss how funders can contribute to the quality of peer review by creating a shared conceptual framework that better defines research quality and societal relevance. We also contribute to a further understanding of the role of diverse peer review panels.
PY - 2023
SP - 619
EP - 632
ST - Evaluation of research proposals by peer review panels
T2 - Science and Public Policy
TI - Evaluation of research proposals by peer review panels: broader panels for broader assessments?
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scad009
VL - 50
Y2 - 2024-02-06
SN - 0302-3427
ER -