Research Excellence Versus Research Impact: Are We Measuring What Matters? (Published)
The increasing complexity of global challenges, including climate change, public health crises, technological disruption, social inequality, and sustainable development, has intensified demands for research that delivers meaningful societal value beyond academic achievement. However, research performance in universities and research institutions continues to be assessed largely through traditional indicators such as publication outputs, citation counts, journal impact factors, research income, and institutional rankings. Although these metrics provide important evidence of scholarly productivity and influence, they inadequately capture research’s broader contribution to society, including its capacity to inform policy, stimulate innovation, and address complex social challenges. This conceptual paper critically examines the relationship between research excellence and research impact, arguing that prevailing evaluation systems remain anchored in metric-driven conceptions of academic performance that privilege measurable outputs over transformative outcomes. Drawing on contemporary scholarship in research evaluation, responsible research assessment, decolonisation, Africanisation, epistemic justice, and research culture, the paper argues that research excellence should be reconceptualised as a multidimensional construct encompassing scientific rigour, societal relevance, ethical responsibility, epistemic diversity, interdisciplinary collaboration, and public value. Particular attention is given to the decolonisation of knowledge systems and the need to produce contextually relevant scholarship while maintaining internationally recognised standards of quality and integrity. The paper concludes by proposing a more holistic framework for evaluating research that integrates academic quality with societal impact, epistemic inclusivity, and sustainable development, encouraging a reconsideration of what research is for, whose interests it serves, and how it can contribute to more just, inclusive, and sustainable futures.
Keywords: Africanisation, epistemic justice, research culture, research excellence, research impact, responsible metrics.