The Evaluation of Research Papers (Or How to Get an Academic Committee to Agree on Something)

The College of Commerce and Finance at Villanova University sponsors an annual research aw^ards program. Its objectives are to encourage and reward faculty research efforts. The process of selecting papers to win the award turned out to be far more complex than we initially expected. After many unsuccessful attempts at developing a manageable procedure, we used the analytic hierarchy process to structure the selection process. We have used this approach for the last three years without any serious problems. The faculty and external advisors using the system believe that it can better capture the subjective judgments of the evaluators than any of the previous approaches. I the fall of 1983, the College of Comdrawn from the local business community, merce and Finance at Villanova UniverEach member of the research committee sity instituted a research awards program and the advisory board provides input in with the purpose of recognizing outstandthe selection process. The research coming research efforts and contributing to an mittee is responsible for recommending overall research atmosphere within the colaward-winning research papers to the lege. The awards program was developed dean, who in turn makes the final selecand continues to be administered by the tions. The college awards two or three cash college's research committee with the asprizes each year to the authors of the outsistance of an external advisory board standing research papers.