Epistemic capacity in research environments: a framework for process evaluation

<italic>This paper is based on a study of 40 centers of excellence evaluations performed by the Swedish Research Council in 2008 and 2010. Building on an analysis of these evaluations, a new quality concept, epistemic capacity, is proposed, and it is shown how this may be utilized in the evaluation of research programs and centers. Epistemic capacity refers to a scientific research center’s capacity, as embodied in activities and processes, to generate first class research outcomes. In this sense, the concept is best applied in intermediary and process evaluation to ascertain how a research milieu is progressing towards future, but yet unrealized, research contributions. The framework is elaborated in the light of previous evaluation research, and conditions for its application are discussed.</italic>