Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics

Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for research metrics

 Use these ten principles to guide research evaluation, urge Diana Hicks, Paul Wouters and colleagues.


Data are increasingly used to govern science. Research evaluations that were once bespoke and performed by peers are now routine and reliant on metrics1. The problem is that evaluation is now led by the data rather than by judgement. Metrics have proliferated: usually well intentioned, not always well informed, often ill applied. We risk damaging the system with the very tools designed to improve it, as evaluation is increasingly implemented by organizations without knowledge of, or advice on, good practice and interpretation.