Leiden protocol for research assessments

The Netherlands has a long standing tradition of research assessment through peer review. According to the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW), universities are responsible for the quality assurance of their own research. Since 1994 universities have evaluated the quality of their research using a common protocol, the core of which is the assessment of the quality of the research by a committee of scientific peers. In 2019-2020 the Association of Universities (VSNU), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) have drawn up the Standard Evaluation Protocol (SEP) for the period 2021-2027. All research assessments at Leiden University in this period will be conducted in line with the SEP 2021 – 20271 .

This Leiden University protocol functions as an internal instruction for these research assessments. It also contains suggestions for the internal mid-term assessments that can be held three years after each external assessment. This protocol describes the procedures, deadlines and division of roles between the University Executive Board, the Faculty Executive Board and the research unit.

Please note that the information in the SEP is leading: this protocol is meant as a manual to the SEP to explain how the rules of the SEP are put into practice at Leiden University. An exception to this rule is the mid-term assessment for which the Leiden protocol provides suggestions.