Chief scientist calls for end to ‘paper counting’ research metric

Australia’s universities must abandon the notion that academic research is a type of “passive apprentice system” for postgraduates, the country’s chief scientist has said.

In an editorial published in the journal Nature, Alan Finkel suggests that universities need to offer “explicit instruction” for students and PhD supervisors in areas such as research integrity and data management to promote a healthy research culture.

He also calls for institutions to “heed growing calls to abandon paper counting and similar metrics for evaluating researchers”.