Portugal

In terms of formative assessment, units receive a written report that includes feedback and recommendations based on the evaluation criteria (for more details, see page 19). 

The R&D Units Evaluation has been conducted in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2013, and 2017/18. The most recent, 7^th national assessment exercise, was launched by FCT in 2023/2024 and completed in 2025. Of the 336 R&D units that applied, 313 were funded, encompassing approximately 21,832 researchers for the 2025–2029 period, with a total budget exceeding €525 million.

Multi-annual funding awarded to R&D units rated ‘Excellent’, ‘Very Good’, or ‘Good’ consists of two complementary components:

• Base funding – indexed to the evaluation results, laboratory intensity, and the number of integrated PhD researchers. The base funding is divided into categories: Human Resources; Missions; Visiting researchers; Patents registration and maintenance; Service or product acquisition; Equipment; Adaptation of facilities and buildings, Audit certificates and Other Expenses. The amount attributed to each category is proposed by the Centre in its proposal, but can be changed upon request to FCT. The category of other expenses operates as “overheads”, and are 20% of the total expenses reported to the FCT, as is very important as the centers can use this funding freely.

• Programmatic funding – to be proposed by the evaluation panel considering the funding requests of the R&D units and its specific needs. This may include the funding or co-funding of:

i) permanent positions within higher education teaching and research careers;

ii) scientific employment through salary support for early-career researchers;

iii) internationalization activities and promotion of European R&D networks;

iv) specific infrastructure and equipment;

v) internal R&D projects led by unit researchers; 

vi) advanced training programs.

This line of funding does not attribute overheads as in the base funding.

Governance

The R&D Units Evaluation in Portugal is administered by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; FCT), the primary national funding organization responsible for supporting science and research activities across all fields. This includes funding for research-performing entities (R&D units, associate laboratories, research infrastructures, and collaborative laboratories), as well as for researchers, PhD scholarships, R&D projects, participation in international organizations (e.g., CERN, ESA, ESO, EMBL), scientific communication and advanced computing.

Participation in the R&D Units Evaluation exercise is mandatory for all R&D Units seeking public funding.

Operation of the exercise

The R&D Units Evaluation primarily focuses on the assessment of scholarly outputs, societal interaction, competitive grants, organizational performance and performance of individuals, research culture, international and inter-sectoral collaborations, and advanced training and mentoring programs. 

The unit of assessment in the R&D Units Evaluation is the R&D Unit itself. These units may be legal entities of public or private nature, or centers without legal status that require an overarching institution with contracting capacity. Unit sizes range from a minimum of 10 to over 300 researchers. Eligible R&D Units include those currently funded by FCT, newly created units, reorganized units, and those with Associated Laboratory status.

Researchers integrated into an R&D Unit may be contractually affiliated with different institutions. Although researchers can collaborate with multiple R&D Units, they are only considered for funding as integrated members of one R&D Unit. Each R&D Unit consists of a team conducting research in a specific scientific or technological domain, or in multidisciplinary areas with shared objectives. 

The evaluation of R&D Units is a peer-review process conducted by external, independent, and international affiliated experts organized into evaluation panels defined by scientific areas. These panels are appointed by the FCT Board of Directors, and their composition is publicly available on the FCT website.

The 2023/2024 evaluation cycle was structured around three main criteria:

A. Quality, merit, relevance, level of collaboration, and internationalization of R&D activity carried out in the evaluation period, measured by international standards, considering the originality, consistency and rigor, the relevance of the results, their dissemination, the participation in advanced training and the development and consolidation of careers, the hosting conditions for researchers and the contribution to the promotion of scientific and technological culture. These elements will be also evaluated considering the strategic plan proposed in the last evaluation exercise, if applicable. 

B. Scientific and technological merit of the research team, particularly of the integrated PhD members, evidence of international and national recognition and connection to society. If applicable, due to the nature of the R&D activities, also the cultural or artistic merit available in the team. 

C. Quality, merit, and relevance of the scientific objectives, the overall strategy, the activity plan and the organization of the R&D unit for the next five years, including plans for advanced training, particularly the scientific conditions to support PhD programmes, hiring new researchers and stabilizing research careers, evidencing the associated institutional coresponsibility, in coherence with the trajectory of the R&D unit.

For detailed information, see the R&D Units Evaluation 2023/2024 Evaluation Guide, pages 7-9.

The most recent evaluation cycle (2023/2024) involved 29 disciplinary panels and over 315 international evaluators. The process includes assessment of each unit’s submitted 5-year activity report and strategic program, interviews with the research team, followed by a site visit. Evaluation results are published on the FCT website.

History, reviews and evaluations

The R&D Units Evaluation system in Portugal has been conducted regularly since its inception, with evaluation cycles held in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2013, 2017/18, and most recently in 2023/24. Over time, the process has evolved to include international peer review, greater emphasis on strategic planning and broader evaluation criteria encompassing societal impact and research culture.

Open science principles began gaining prominence in the 2017/2018 evaluation cycle. Specifically, the criterion on ‘quality, merit, relevance, and internationalization of R&D activity’ included ‘the preservation, curation and dissemination of R&D results and data, respecting the principles and practices of Open Science’.

As a signatory of the CoARA Agreement and co-chair of Portugal’s national CoARA chapter, FCT introduced narrative CVs format in the 2023/24 cycle, becoming one of the first systems to implement this format. The Narrative CV included three sections:

1. Scientific and professional profile and career
2. Contributions to science and society, including:
    A. New ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
    B. Training and career development
    C. Engagement with the scientific community
    D. Societal contributions
3. Scientific production and selected activities

Notably, the narrative CV format is required only for a limited number of researchers, selected by each R&D unit. These researchers must submit “Nuclear CVs”, which are subject to special analysis by the evaluation panel. The number of Nuclear CVs each unit must provide depends on its size – see the details below:

Number of Integrated PhD Holder Researchers	Number of Nuclear CVs
< 20	3
≥ 20 and < 40	5
≥ 40 and < 80	10
≥ 80 and ≤ 160	15
> 160	20

Additionally, the latest cycle introduced a multidisciplinary evaluation model, allowing R&D units to select up to two additional evaluation panels during the registration phase. According to the expert, who provided the information on Portugal’s national research assessment system, Bruno Beu, “This flexibility allows for a customized assessment that better reflects the unique characteristics and multidisciplinary dimensions of each unit’s research, and supports a more nuanced and thorough review and evaluation of both past achievements and strategic plans”. In the most recent evaluation cycle, FCT also introduced a new model of “collegial evaluation”, under which all panel members — not only the panel-assigned “readers” — are required to provide individual evaluation reports. The duration and frequency of interactions between research units and evaluation panels also increased, aiming to improve the peer-review process.

Last updated: November 2025 

Acknowledgement: Information provided by Ricardo Biscaia and Bruno Beu.