From moral panic to accountability: societal impact, evaluations, and bibliometrics in Iceland

Eiríkur Smári Sigurðarson

Chapter 9 in Accountability in Academic Life, 2023, pp 113-125 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Following the financial collapse in Iceland in 2008, HEIs in Iceland were criticised, in a special investigative report, for lack of public engagement in the years leading to the crash. This was followed by a new focus on the social role of higher education and research. This chapter analyses how societal impact comes to the fore in three different, but interrelated, policy settings in Iceland: Science and Technology policy, Policy of the University of Iceland, and the Quality Board for Higher Education. It shows that while societal impact is high on the policy agenda, the evaluation systems that directly affect most academics are still almost exclusively focused on output in publications ranked according to the main commercial databases. It also shows that the debate on “societal impact” in the domestic context is still in a problematisation phase and has limited academic uptake.

Keywords: Business and Management; Education; Politics and Public Policy Sociology and Social Policy; General Academic Interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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