The Vicious Circle of Evaluation Transparency - An Ignition Paper

Introduction The present paper introduces a model, which describes different phases that typically occur in situations, in which a researching subject (e. g. an author, an institution, a country etc.) needs to be evaluated and in which some kind of reward (e. g. monetary in the form of a bonus or funding) is based on this evaluation. This model, the present author calls it the “vicious circle of evaluation transparency”, will be underlined by giving examples for each of its phases. In order to be able to observe a process that is described by this model, there first needs to be something that is to be evaluated, for example a research group at a university. Such a need normally comes up, when money is to be divided among different groups or focused on one. The problem of evaluation and rewarding is at the core of the model (see Figure 1).