Measure Your Research Impact: Introduction

Learn how to assess the impact of your research

Research impact is the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to academia, society and the economy:

• Academic impact : Contribution to academic advances, across and within disciplines, in understanding, methods, theory and application
• Societal impact: Benefit to individuals, organizations and nations by enhancing quality of life, health and creative output, and increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy
• Economic impact: Attracting investment, wealth creation, enhanced national and global competitiveness

The above statements were adapted from the Research Councils UK.

There are several reasons to measure your research impact:

• Application for promotion or tenure
• Quantify return on research investment for grant renewals and progress reports
• Future funding requests
• Identify who is using your work and confirm that it is appropriately credited
• Identify collaborators within or outside of your discipline