Slovakia

The system was inspired by the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) and has evolved from VER 2022 (which assessed only research outputs) to VER 2026 (which assesses research outputs, societal impact, and research environment). The evaluation aims to raise quality, promote excellence, and increase the international visibility of Slovak research, while ensuring that public funding is allocated based on quality assessments conducted by independent international peer review panels.

VER has an aim of minimizing administrative burden through several mechanisms: institutions submit a maximum of 25 outputs per research area rather than large comprehensive portfolios, ensuring broad representation without requiring exhaustive documentation; and the entire evaluation cycle from call for applications to publication of results and funding implementation is completed within 18 months, with the evaluation itself limited to a maximum of six months. This shorter evaluation period is intended to lower the administrative burden on participating institutions. 

The results of VER evaluations are publicly available (see VER 2022).

Governance

The Periodic Evaluation is administered by the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic through its Department of Evaluation of Creative Activities. The Ministry holds formal oversight over the system design, implementation, and integration of results into funding formulas for public universities.       VER results are incorporated into the funding of public research institutions through a separate formula, administered by the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

An independent group of experts in the Council for the Periodic Evaluation of Science, Research and Higher Education Institutions oversees the evaluation process, including the selection of international assessment panels and sub-panels from the pool of applications, and functions as an ethical committee. Participation is mandatory for all public universities and public research institutions. 

Operation of the exercise

Focus of the assessment

VER 2022 assessed the quality of creative outputs (scholarly publications, artistic outputs, conference papers, monographs, etc.) produced during 2014-2019. VER 2026 expands assessment to three components: (1) creative outputs (weighted 60-70% depending on discipline), (2) societal impact of creative activities (15-20%), and (3) creative environment (15-20%). Natural sciences, technical sciences, medicine, and agricultural sciences give 70% weight to outputs, while social sciences, humanities, and arts allocate 60% to outputs and higher weights to impact and environment.

Unit of assessment and scope

The units of assessment are institutional departments or research groups within public universities and public research institutions. Institutions submit applications in one or more of 28 research areas organized under 7 main research groups (Natural Sciences, Technical Sciences, Medicine, Agricultural/Forestry/Veterinary Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts and Theory of Art). Each institution can submit an application either at the faculty level or at the institutional level, and joint submissions are permitted to address institutional fragmentation. For example, if a university has three psychology departments in different faculties, they may submit separately, in pairs, or as a single joint submission.

Each application contains a maximum of 25 outputs, selected on the principle of evenness. In the longlist phase, institutions provide up to five outputs per eligible staff member. From this pool, they compile a shortlist of 25 outputs applying the evenness principle: for submissions with 25 or more staff members, each shortlisted output must come from a different individual; for smaller units, outputs are distributed as evenly as possible (e.g., with 8 staff: 7 contribute 3 outputs and 1 contributes 4; with 16 staff: 9 contribute 2 and 7 contribute 1). When researchers have fewer than five eligible outputs, unused slots count as zero outputs. For every 4% of missing outputs in the longlist, the shortlist must be reduced by one item. Researchers who experienced significant disadvantages (such as two or more years of parental leave, long-term illness, or caregiving responsibilities) are included for funding purposes but exempt from submitting outputs. Participation is mandatory for all public higher education institutions and public research institutions. VER 2022 had 308 submissions totaling 7,700 outputs; VER 2026 had 270 submissions, suggesting increasing institutional collaboration.

Methods

The primary method is peer review conducted by international assessment committees. For VER 2022, evaluation panels comprised foreign experts from 19 countries and 66 leading universities . Expert      panels review each shortlisted output, assigning it by consensus to one of five quality bands: world-leading, internationally excellent, internationally recognized, nationally recognized, or unclassified (including zero outputs). An institution’s quality profile reflects the percentage of outputs in each band.

For VER 2026, institutions also submitted narrative case studies describing impact and research environment, following guidance adapted from the UK REF. The criteria for assessment of outputs are originality, significance, and rigor. The criteria for assessment of social impact are: (a) application potential of the underpinning research, (b) degree of social impact, (c) link between underpinning research and social impact, and (d) quality of evidence of social impact. The criteria for assessment of creative environment are: (a) strategic direction and scientific profiling of the submitting institution, (b) workplace conditions in terms of staffing, (c) degree of collaborations and their contribution, and (d) overall sustainability of the workplace.  While citations were permissible in the assessment of research outputs in VER 2022, VER 2026 relies exclusively on peer review, with no bibliometrics allowed. In 2025, the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic signed the CoARA agreement.

History, reviews and evaluations

The Periodic Evaluation system was created in 2022 as part of Slovakia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, which provided funding for international expert panels. VER 2022 marked a historic transition from quantitative bibliometric assessment to qualitative peer review evaluation. The evaluation process took place between September and December 2022, with results published in 2022.

Following VER 2022, the system underwent significant evolution for VER 2026. Key changes include expansion from evaluating only research outputs to incorporating societal impact and research environment assessments, bringing the system closer to the UK REF model. VER 2022 results were implemented into institutional funding formulas starting in 2024, alongside the introduction of performance-based contracts with universities. According to the expert who provided the information on the national research evaluation system in Slovakia, Daša Bombjaková,“The reduction in submissions from 308 in VER 2022 to 270 in VER 2026 suggests a trend toward greater institutional collaboration, addressing a key policy goal of reducing institutional fragmentation“.

As of January 2026, VER 2026 is underway, covering the 2020-2024 period, with results scheduled for mid-June 2026.

Sources

Directive No. 03/2025 on the Periodic Assessment of Research, Development, Artistic and Other Creative Activities: 34550.21cf64.docx

Statute of Assessment Sub-Panels and Main Assessment Panels of the Periodic Assessment of Research, Development, Artistic and Other Creative Activities: 34039.f32a75.pdf
Results of VER 2022: Results – Verification of Excellence in Research

Last updated: January 2026 

Acknowledgement: Information provided by Daša Bombjaková.