v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 1,610 entries across 24 domains · CC-BY 4.01,610 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

Impact evaluation

The systematic assessment of whether and how a research output, programme or portfolio has produced specific effects beyond academia.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A funder commissions independent contribution-analysis evaluation of a 5-year research programme.
Is an instance
An institution conducts portfolio-level impact evaluation by aggregating case studies across departments.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
Reporting impact-evaluation findings based on author self-report with no triangulation.
Not an instance
Claiming attribution without identifying counterfactual evidence or contribution pathway.

Editorial commentary

Impact evaluation draws methods from programme evaluation, social-science research, contribution analysis and case-study design. Approaches include counterfactual designs (where feasible), contribution analysis, theory-based evaluation, payback frameworks, and productive-interactions tracing. Funders increasingly require impact evaluation as part of grant closeout. The Research Impact Handbook, the LSE Impact Blog, and the Royal Society's impact toolkit are common reference resources.

References

Mayne J 'Contribution analysis' Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation 2008. Reed M 'The Research Impact Handbook' 2016.

Also known as

Research impact evaluation · Impact assessment

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

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Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

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