Research impact seen from the user side

Jordi Molas-Gallart, Richard Woolley
This working paper is inspired and forms part of the work of the Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science (OSIRIS) in which INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) participates. OSIRIS is an international research centre based at the TIK Centre at the University of Oslo that brings together different disciplines relevant for understanding research impact. The fundamental and rather original perspective of OSIRIS is to look at the process of research impact primarily from the user side: How can we characterise the process through which research makes an impact in society?
This working paper takes up this question from the perspective of the research evaluation literature. It takes a first step toward trying to develop methodological principles for defining and investigating the OSIRIS idea of a ‘problem area’ in which research users take up outputs from scientific research and seek to innovate to improve societal outcomes. OSIRIS has a particular interest in improving understandings of such impacts from the perspectives of users in the areas of health, industry, and policy making.