The Royal Society, the Leopoldina and the Academie des Sciences have published a joint statement providing guidelines for best practice in the evaluation of scientific research. The statement notes that evaluation requires peer review by acknowledged experts working to the highest ethical standards and focusing on intellectual merits and scientific achievements. Bibliometric data cannot be used as a proxy for expert assessment, well-founded judgment is essential, and overemphasis on such metrics may seriously damage scientific creativity and originality. Finally, expert peer review should be treated as a valuable resource.
This statement was handed over by the three academies to the European Commissioner for Science, Innovation and Research, Carlos Moedas in December 2017.