{"id":64483,"date":"2025-09-21T13:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T07:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=64483"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:43:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:13:05","slug":"icmrs-impact-of-research-and-innovation-scale-iris-measuring-biomedical-research-impact-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/icmrs-impact-of-research-and-innovation-scale-iris-measuring-biomedical-research-impact-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"ICMR\u2019s Impact of Research and Innovation Scale (IRIS) &#8211; Measuring Biomedical Research Impact in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Impact of Research and Innovation Scale (IRIS) Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indian Council of Medical Research (<\/span><b>ICMR<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) has proposed the Impact of Research and Innovation Scale (<\/span><b>IRIS<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) <\/span><b>to measure the impact of biomedical, public health, and allied research projects.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given ICMR\u2019s role as India\u2019s premier grants-giving and agenda-setting body in health research, IRIS could <\/span><b>significantly shape the research ecosystem<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Key Features of IRIS<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ICMR proposes to measure research impact in units called <\/span><b>publication-equivalents (PEs)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A research paper <\/span><b>published in a peer-reviewed journal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that reports results or methods of primary research, or a systematic review and meta-analysis is assigned <\/span><b>1 PE<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While a research paper that is cited in policies or guidelines is assigned <\/span><b>10 PEs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>A patent\u2019s impact is 5 PEs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and that of a commercial device being used at scale is <\/span><b>20 PEs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Advantages of IRIS<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Standardisation &#8211; Uniform metric: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IRIS provides a common yardstick across disciplines (biochemistry, physiology, biomedical engineering, public health, etc).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Recognition beyond citations: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Breaks the conventional citation-driven incentive system and encourages diverse forms of impactful research.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Policy and funding linkage:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> By tying PEs to funding allocation, IRIS can influence research prioritisation and resource distribution effectively.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Concerns and Limitations<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Theoretical weakness:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PE assignment lacks strong theoretical rationale.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It excludes influential works. <\/span><b>For example<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, commentary, perspective, and narratives review papers will have <\/span><b>0 PE<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this case, <\/span><b>the 1977 paper<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that introduced the biopsychosocial model of medicine, which transformed medical and public health research, will have no impact.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Articulating new ideas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and critical discourse around emerging evidence are at the <\/span><b>foundation <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of research, yet the PE-based system could discourage Indian researchers from pursuing articles of this nature.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Skewed incentives:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It prioritises commercial devices (20 PEs) over policy-level interventions (10 PEs).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Risks undervaluing basic science<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, public health programmes, and academic medicine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>For example<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the RATIONS clinical trial (studied nutrition in tuberculosis patients) and India\u2019s Home-Based Neonatal Care (revolutionised community health programming) will be deemed to be less impactful.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Risk to research as a public good:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over-commercialisation may erode the ethos of science as a public good.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential misuse in India\u2019s already <\/span><b>weak research ethics culture<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Need for transparency:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Development of IRIS requires rigorous methods, accountability, and peer validation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Suggested approach<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The assignment of PEs to different indicators could be done through a national-level <\/span><b>Delphi study<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where researchers form a consensus on the assignment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Data must be shared<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with independent groups to analyse and validate the scale.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measuring research impact is <\/span><b>inherently complex<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with no universally correct model.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ICMR must ensure <\/span><b>transparency, inclusivity, and ethical safeguards<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while developing IRIS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Balance is essential<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to incentivise innovation and translation into practice without undermining fundamental research and critical academic discourse.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, research evaluation must align with India\u2019s public health priorities and <\/span><b>uphold research as a public good<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/icmr-irs-research-impact-evaluation-standards-deter-science-public-interest\/article70060783.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ICMR has proposed the Impact of Research and Innovation Scale (IRIS) to measure the impact of biomedical, public health, and allied research projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":64593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2814,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-64483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-impact-of-research-and-innovation-scale","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}