ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 6 – social SCIENCEs
2.3 Research Quality
Quality: The department has managed to cover all levels of social work
(societal, organizational, individual) in its research activities, but in a fairly
integrated manner, thus avoiding the not uncommon but nevertheless
artificial and counter-productive academic division according to which
questions related to social welfare at the macro level are being handled by
e.g. sociologists and economists, and social problems and social interventions
at the micro level by researchers in social work respectively: Nearly
one third of the scientific publications produced by the School belong to
the category of national or international refereed articles, which is a very
large share when it comes to the field of social work, at least in Scandinavian
comparison.
The School was also “ranked” very high among social work departments
when the Swedish Research Council for Working Life and Social Sciences
evaluated the research activities within the field of social work in
2003. Thus, in terms of quality, the School must be ranked as excellent.
Productivity. The School is (at least) as productive as are the other big
units at the faculty. If the volume of production is viewed in relation to
the comparably high teaching load of the academic staff (which, due to
the nature of social work education, includes providing both academic
and professional skills), the relatively moderate share of external research
funding in comparison to other units at the faculty, and the intensive
“interaction” with professionals in practical social work and with society
at large, the department ranks (at least) as excellent as regards productivity.
Relevance: The research conducted at the department must be ranked as
excellent in terms of relevance. The research activities of the School have
broadened the theoretical basis of social work and social welfare. The
research is also of high relevance for the professionals and decision-makers
in the field.
Vitality and organizational capacity: The School has shown its vitality
through a number of activities: it has established highly qualified scientific
journals/research networks, its staff has taken part in a variety of public
reports as experts, The School is the leading social work department in
Scandinavia as regards the number of joint research projects/publications
etc. The department also has managed to recruit many and good PhD
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