Mind the evaluation gap: reviewing the assessment of architectural research in the Netherlands

Abstract

The definition of research quality is directly linked to public funding access in countries like the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands. Architecture, as a design discipline, faces the problem that it has limited access to these resources. It experiences a so-called evaluation gap. Its research performance does not easily fit the conventional moulds commonly used to assess quality. Assessments are increasingly based on the analysis of indexed journals, while indexes (such as the ISI) have, so far, mostly neglected the arts and humanities to which architecture may be assumed to belong. Schools of architecture have to face this matter head-on if they want to survive in times of austerity, and they need to do so sooner rather than later. They have to decide whether they want to continue to push for the acceptance of discipline-specific performance indicators or whether they would rather adapt to the standards and dissemination practices that characterise more established fields of scientific research. The direction they choose will inevitably shape future research in architecture.