There is more impact on research. | Photo Credit: Adam Bezer/Unsplash
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) recently proposed the impact of the research and innovation scale (IRIS), a scale with which the impact of biomedical, public and allied research projects funded by organizations is measured. ICMR is Indian Government Grants to Provide the Research Agenda Agenda Research in Research, so that the scale and its numbers will have a great impact on the Indian communities for medical and health research.
ICMR proposes to measure the impact of research in units called equivalents of the publication (PES). The research work published in the reviewed journal, which reports the results or methods of primary research or a systematic overview and meta-analysis, is assigned 1 PE-Dathy research work, which is cited in politicians/instructions, is assigned 10 dogs. The impact of the patent is 5 dogs and the impact of a commercial device used on a scale is 20 dog.
Pronoun
Measuring the impact of research is several advantages. First, the use of the dog as a “units of impact” provides a standardized reference framework for discussion on different types of impact. It will enable ICMR to assess the impact of heterogeneous work from scientists across disciplines such as biochemistry, physiology, biomedical engineering, public health, etc., operate on different standards, including basic science, translational sciences, public health sciences, etc.
Second, Iris acknowledges that he has more impact on research than quotations. Medical and medical scientists, especially those who work in academic settings, usually lack incentives for research that would not lead to emotional academic documents. However, a scale, such as Iris, could break this structure and motivate scientists to diversify the portfolio of research of scientists. Thirdly, binding dog and Iris for real decisions on the allocation of financing and prioritization of the project ensures that this will not be a theoretical academic exercise. The fact that ICMR pilots Iris to measure the impact of existing programs and institutes for research and institutes is an important signal of the event.
Research assessment
For the same reasons, it is important to explore where and how this relatively simple approach to standardizing research could fail. First for the dog lacking sound theoretical reasons, because the research unit affects the way ICMR controls it. The ICMR note states that the documents for checking comments, perspectives and narration will have 0 PE. In this case the 1977 document that introduced Biopsychosocial model Medicine, which has transformed medical and public research, will have no impact. The expression of new ideas and critical discourse around the emerging evidence is based on the foundations of research and are obviously impressive, but a PE -based system could discourage Indian scientists from monitoring articles of this nature.
Second, Iris can distort how some research is appreciated over some others. Research that leads to policy changes gets 10 dogs, while commercial facilities receive 20 dogs. As a result, clinical rating of allocation that studied nutrition in patients with tuberculosis and domestic neonatal care in India, which revolutionized community health programming, will be considered less impressive than, say, commercialized robotic surgery. This outlook could discourage basic science and academic medicine and force researchers and institutions to commerize their research and innovations.
Although it is their privilege, there is a risk that this will happen at the expense of the ethos of scientific research as public goods. The benefits of new designs are dependent on the local context. It is known that biomedical and health in India suffered from poor culture of research ethics and there is a risk that this could spread to affect PE. It is therefore necessary for our public sector institutions to hold a line and stand up with the ethos “Research as public goods”.
In the end, a unit and a scale should be determined to determine the fate of biomedical and health research in India, after strict research standards, with full transparency and liability mechanisms. The ICMR note mentions the ongoing pilot across its institutions and positive feedback, but it should follow the established methods of design and analysis of the study to develop such scales. For example, PE assignment to various indicators could be done through a study at a national level where scientists create a consensus on the task. Data with independent groups must be shared to analyze and verify the scale.
Measurement of the impact of research is a complicated exercise without correct answers. Institutions such as ICMR have the opportunity and responsibility for creating them creatively and working.
Siddhesh Zadey is a co -founder of the non -profit association for socially usable research (Asar) and a doctoral student in epidemiology at Columbia University.
Published – September 2025 21:32
