Do research assessment systems have the potential to hinder scientists from diversifying their research pursuits?

A possible side effect of several research evaluation schemes adopted by governments and research organizations is the discouragement of research diversification and cross-discipline fertilization, which are crucial for major global scientific challenges. This work intends to contribute to the literature stream investigating such initiatives’ effects on scientists’ specialization/diversification strategies. To this purpose, we analyze the response of academics to the introduction of the national scientific accreditation (ASN) for professorship introduced in Italy in 2012. We will conduct a longitudinal disciplinary analysis of the publications of each Italian university professor in the sciences (over 25.000), accounting for those individual and contextual variables that might moderate the opportunistic response to the ASN incentive scheme.