The Role of Books in Non-Bibliometric Areas ROBINba

Current evaluation practice continues to place journal articles as the main indicator for academic excellence. However, whilst this may be true in some scientific disciplines, other dissemination channels, notably books and book chapters, are important vectors for research outputs. Although the major bibliometric databases have moved forward to include proceedings and books, the place of these published works in the evaluation process, whether quantitative or qualitative, remains far from clear. There is an urgent need to summarise current theoretical and practical stances across Europe, and beyond, so as to delineate best practices as a basis for the evaluation and valorisation of Italian research output. This project sets out to draw together the current threads and to produce a roadmap for future actions in the area of book-based dissemination.