Quality and Research Evaluation in Organizations

A central issue in science policy today is the changing role and function ofresearch evaluation. How is quality selected, has local organizational traditionsand managerial practices influence on the research evaluation? Who isperceived as peers or evaluators by the researchers and by managers? Recentorganizational theory has focused on organizational and social dimensions inprivate knowledge-based companies, but left out research organizations. Howimportant is the organizational context for the research evaluation processes?The paper will present results from an interview-based study of four privateand public research organizations and discuss the importance of theorganizational context on the production of new knowledge.