6. Retrospective Evaluation

Evaluation of projects takes place two years after the completion of the project and will be based on the following criteria:

  • The project must be important for the Chemical Sciences and be consistent with the goals of IUPAC.
  • IUPAC should be the appropriate organization to undertake this project.
  • The product or outcome of the project should fulfill the stated objectives.
  • The project should conform to plan, including timing and use of the budget.
  • The outcome of the project should be effectively disseminated.
  • The project should have impact on IUPAC and the relevant scientific community.
  • The project should increase the visibility of IUPAC.

In order to carry out this task the Evaluation Committee needs certain documents. These documents are collected by the Secretariat at the time of the completion of the project since some of them might be difficult to obtain when it is time to do the evaluation. The collection of documents related to a particular project constitutes the file for the project. The necessary documents are:

  1. The product of the project, usually a copy of the published report or recommendation.
  2. The project submission form and any reviews obtained during the approval process.
  3. All status reports produced during the lifetime of the project.
  4. The Standard Measures Report (see Section 6.1).
  5. A Final Status Report (see Section 6.2).
  6. An evaluation of the completed project from the Division/Standing Committee.
  7. Any update of items 4, 5 and 6 provided at the end of two years.

Items 1, 2, and 3 are supplied by the Secretariat from their records; the Standard Measures Report will be compiled by the Secretariat based on information in its records or obtained from outside sources (e.g. citations); and the Final Status Report will be requested from the Task Group Chair.

6.1. Standard Measures Report

The Secretariat will compile a report including:

  • Project title and number
  • Monitoring IUPAC body (i.e. responsible Division/Standing Committee)

Standard Measures:

  1. Duration (date of initiation and completion)
  2. Product or Outcome
  3. Mile stones
  4. Total financial IUPAC support
  5. Citations
  6. Book sales
  7. Hits on a web site (IUPAC)
  8. Number of people involved
  9. Names of Task Group Chair and Members

The Secretariat will send this report to the Task Group Chair and the Division Committee.

6.2. Final Status Report

The Task Group Chair should prepare a Final Status Report of no more than two pages that addresses the following issues:

  • What is the impacted community?
  • Was there co-publication?
  • Are the evaluated data developed by this project incorporated in commercial databases?
  • Have the recommendations of this project been adopted by journals, textbook authors, or other organizations?
  • Have there been articles in the scientific press on this project?
  • Have the standard methods proposed by this project been adopted by industrial or governmental organizations?
  • Do these data form the basis for standard models used in the field?
  • Does this project have, or could it have after suitable modifications, industrial applications?
  • Have the results been presented and discussed at important scientific meetings?
  • Has the project initiated activity that has earned funding from non-IUPAC sources?
  • Do the results lead to initiation of new, especially interdivisional, activities?
  • Do the results identify new areas where IUPAC can play a useful role?
  • Is the profile of IUPAC enhanced by the results of the project?
  • Was the project management by the Division/Standing Committee helpful?
  • Would you ever undertake another IUPAC project?
  • Was the support from the Secretariat sufficient?
  • Any additional comments?

The Task Group Chair will send copies of this Final Status Report to the Division/Standing Committee and to the Secretariat. The Division/Standing Committee will then send its evaluation of the project to the Secretariat.

Two years after the completion of the project, the Secretariat will gather updates on the Standard Measures Report along with the Final Status Report and the evaluation by the Division/Standing Committee. The project file will then be submitted to the Evaluation Committee who, and - if applicable - with the use of the reviews by external experts, will proceed with the project evaluation.