|
ERIH and Art
History – a joint resolution of RIHA
RIHA sharply
criticizes the clandestine way in which the European Science
Foundation (ESF) has developed and monitored the European
Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH) since 2001,
and is extremely concerned about its present and future
application (see:
http://www.esf.org/research-areas/humanities/erih-european-reference-index-for-the-humanities/erih-initial-lists.html).
Following
discussions at the General Assemblies in Rome (Nov. 6-8,
2008) and Ljubljana (Nov. 6-7, 2009), RIHA has adopted the
following resolution on November 7, 2009:
RIHA
Resolution
1. The
qualities of scholarly work in the humanities cannot be
assessed in simple numbers or metrics; principles which were
developed in the context of the natural sciences cannot be
transferred to or employed in the humanities, since these
work differently, in particular with regard to the relevance
of research for different audiences or readerships, and its
impact on these constituencies.
2. RIHA
strongly opposes the idea that, in the field of art history,
the place of a publication (in a journal that has been
assigned to category A, B, or C) is indicative of the
quality of the individual article or contribution.
3. The
categorization of journals does not reflect the needs of
scholars. RIHA will not deliver data to ERIH or to any
similar quantitative indices of research quality that can be
used for assessing the quality of individual scholars,
departments, or institutions.
4. RIHA
strongly opposes the idea that a specific number of articles
in any journal can serve as a means to establish the
scholarly potential of a candidate for career promotion (as
practised, e.g., in Poland).
5. RIHA
strongly deplores the current practice of linking directly
the funding of a research institute to the number of
articles published by the staff of that institute. RIHA
considers this practice to be meaningless with regard to the
quality and impact of an institute’s daily work.
6. All RIHA
member institutes hereby declare that they will never use
ERIH data for assessing the quality of applications for
grants and fellowships, research projects, or for temporary
or permanent positions as staff members. Rather, they will
rely on specific criteria appropriate to the individual case.
7. RIHA
strongly urges all European art historical institutions (museums,
galleries, universities, cultural heritage organizations
etc.) not to use ERIH, and to lobby their respective
ministries to ensure that ERIH is not employed at local,
regional, federal, or national level.
RIHA
Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für
Kunstgeschichte, Rome
Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Washington, D.
C.
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Danmarks Kunstbibliotek, The Danish National Art Library,
Copenhagen
Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte (Centre allemand
d’histoire de l’art), Paris
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Istituto di Storia dell’Arte,
Venice
The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris
Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique – Koninlijk
Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium (IRPA-KIK), Brussels
Ústav dejín umenia SAV (Institute of Art History of Slovak
Academy of Sciences), Bratislava
Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk (Institute of Art of
the Polish Academy of Sciences), Warsaw
Ústav dějin umění (Institute of Art History), Prague
Institut Za Povijest Umjetnosti (Institute of Art History),
Zagreb
Instituto Amatller de Arte Hispánico, Barcelona
»George Oprescu« Institute for Art History (Institutul de
Istoria Artei »George Oprescu«), Bucharest
Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural
Centre), Krakow
Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Rome
Kommission für Kunstgeschichte an der Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-
Institut, Florence
MTA Müvészettörténeti Kutatóintézet (Research Institute for
Art History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Budapest
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD,
Netherlands Institute for Art History), The Hague
Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft (SIKISEA),
Zurich
Umetnostnozgodovinski inštitut Franceta Steleta,
Znanstvenoraziskovalni Center, Slovenske akademije znanosti
in umetnosti (France Stele Institute of Art History,
Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of
Sciences and Arts), Ljubljana
Visual Arts Research Institute Edinburgh (VARIE), Edinburgh
The Warburg Institute, London
Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich
This resolution was also published in: Kunstchronik,
March 2010, pp. 129-130.
|
