The evaluation of legal science. The Vl.I.R.-model for integral quality assessment of research in law : what next ?

Serge Gutwirth, Law, Science, Technology & Society @ Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Abstract

It is impossible to assess legal research on the basis of international bibliometric evaluation techniques more or less widely accepted in other scientific disciplines. To negatively evaluate a Belgian legal researcher because he has too few ISI publications is the same as saying that a Thai restaurant is no good because there are no chips or pizzas on the menu. If legal science has its own validity criteria it should also have its own evaluation criteria. Indeed, the best solution is to use the thorough quality-content assessment and comparative peer review ; but for reasons already explained, the peer review is no longer up to the task. There must also be more quantitative measurements. The question is : what is available ? Is there an instrument besides qualitative assessment by peers that can be used in Belgian legal research to measure output quantitatively