Netherlands

Governance

The SEP is a joint framework developed by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (UNL), the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The protocol undergoes a revision and approval process every six years, with active involvement from the Dutch academic community. For example, for the SEP 2027-2033, the responsible bodies have formed a working group to monitor and further develop the protocol. This working group acts as a national platform and advisory body, facilitating knowledge exchange, providing advice, and ensuring communication about the SEP.

As a flexible instrument, the SEP allows research units to choose the most relevant indicators for evaluation purposes. As a peer-review-based system, its standardised criteria are deliberately open-ended, to be interpreted according to the specifics of the unit under assessment. The final assessment reports of research units are typically made publicly available. 

The assessment of public research organisations through the SEP framework is mandatory for all public research institutions in the Netherlands.

Operation of the exercise

The focus of the SEP includes the assessment of scholarly outputs, societal interaction, research culture, and career development. 

The main goal of a SEP evaluation is to assess a research unit in relation to its own aims and strategy. This includes evaluating the unit’s aims and strategies in the context of international trends, developments in the relevant scientific field, and society.

Within the SEP, the scope of assessment is a research unit within the organisation. ‘Research units’ refer to institutes, departments, research groups or multidisciplinary clusters with their own research strategy, or other relevant units as defined by the board that commissions the evaluation.

The SEP employs an informed peer review method for assessment, supported by quantitative indicators at the discretion of expert panels. An assessment committee of independent experts evaluates the performance of the research unit based on its self-evaluation and a site visit.

History, reviews and evaluations

Since 2014, the SEP has evolved in response to broader shifts in Dutch academia. These developments have introduced new evaluation criteria and policy areas, emphasized responsible research practices, and aligned with national reform initiatives such as Recognition & Rewards.

Key Changes in SEP:

• Societal Relevance (Since 2014)
  • Societal relevance became a more explicit, distinct criterion alongside scientific quality;
  • Gradually replaced “valorisation”, which primarily focused on academic-industry collaboration, and academic entrepreneurship were integrated into societal relevance;
• Responsible Use of Metrics 
  • Emphasis on responsible use of metrics began in 2014;
  • In 2021, “informed peer review” became a core principle and recommendations against reliance on Journal Impact Factor (JIF) were introduced;
• Academic Culture (Since 2021)
  • Research integrity and responsible conduct of research became part of the “Academic Culture” – a new ‘policy area’ dimension of the protocol;
  • Academic culture dimension emphasized also on inclusivity;
• Human Resources Policy (2021)
  • One of four new policy areas introduced in SEP 2021, with a focus on diversity
• Open Science (since 2021)
  • Open Science became one of the four new policy areas in the 2021 SEP, marking its first inclusion in the exercise. It now plays a prominent role, encompassing FAIR principles, data sharing, open access publishing, and societal engagement.

Last updated: May 2025 

Acknowledgements: Information provided by Alex Rushforth and Nicole Ward-Boot, with thanks to Thed van Leeuwen and Leonie van Drooge for providing further insights.