Research excellence indicators: time to reimagine the ‘making of’?

In the current parlance of evidence-based policy, indicators are increasingly called upon to inform policymakers, including in the research and innovation domain. However, few studies have scrutinized how such indicators come about in practice. We take as an example the development of an indicator by the European Commission, the Research Excellence in Science & Technology indicator. First, we outline tensions related to defining and measuring research excellence for policy using the notion of 'essentially contested concept'. Second, we explore the construction and use of the aforementioned indicator through in-depth interviews with relevant actors and the co-production of indicators, that is the interplay of their making vis-a-vis academic practices and policy expectations. We find that although many respondents in our study feel uncomfortable with the current usage of notions of excellence as indicator of quality of research practices, few alternatives are suggested. We identify a number of challenges which may contribute to the debate of indicator development, suggesting that the making of current indicators for research policy in the EU may be in need of serious review.