We are committed to
supporting meaningful,
real world impact.
Real Impact is far more than citations. It’s about making a difference. It’s communities joining together to find ways to make changes. Impact is the provable effects of research in the real world.
We appreciate it’s not always easy for academics and researchers to see the impact of their work. That’s why we’ve launched ‘Real Impact’ to aid the cause and call on research communities to come together and break down barriers.
So, join our conversations, have your say in our blogs, read our toolkits, and download our resources to help bring your research to life. Together we can make a difference.
Real Impact Manifesto
We are committed to supporting meaningful, real world impact.
Emerald will now lead the publishing charge towards meaningful impact.
For over 50 years, research impact has sat at the heart of Emerald’s business. Emerald’s core ethos is making a difference through research, and we are proud of our heritage supporting the communication of research for policy and practice.
With a sector increasingly full of pressure and expectation, we recognise the challenges faced by colleagues in connecting research to impact. We also recognise that traditional markers of influence, such as citations, are not sufficient to tell the story of impact. Emerald feels strongly that we have a key role and responsibility in not only supporting the impact agenda, but also in challenging outdated approaches to measuring effects.
Emerald will now lead the publishing charge towards meaningful impact. We will continue to work with our global author network to publish research which makes a difference and invest further in the research community to support real world change.
Emerald commits to:
- Support the community of practice to overcome barriers to impact, working in partnership with key agencies to strengthen connections between research and society.
- Challenge simplistic and outdated approaches to impact, shifting beyond metrics and celebrating impact of all shapes and sizes.
- Drive impact literacy in the research sector – including within Emerald itself – championing knowledge and skills development and developing new tools and innovative approaches.
Join us in making a difference.
Vicky Williams
CEO, Emerald Publishing
On behalf of the Directors
Impact Case Studies
- Read our collection of stories, outlining impact achieved in the real world
We are committed to supporting meaningful, real world impact.
We believe our role is to help researchers tell their story in a more meaningful way which is why we have created the Real Impact Showcase Book. Read the inspirational stories of our Real Impact Award 2018 winners and highly commended entries and the commitment they have to creating real change in the real world. …
Read ArticleRecent News & Blogs
- Uncover news and views from across the globe and add your voice to the impact debate
When two worlds collide: Aid Agencies, Academia and Reflective Practitioners
Terry Gibson - Education, Global Events, Science/SociologyOver a year on from the safeguarding and abuse scandals that rocked Oxfam, Save the Children, Medecins sans Frontieres and revealed challenges across the whole Aid Agency sector, and despite their intention in an open letter of ‘continuing to deliver vital aid but also changing fundamentally.’ the UK International development committee finds too little has …
Read ArticleThe Rise of the Radical Right: Reflections on the Role of Academics in Tracking Emerging Developments
Dr William Allchorn - PolicyIn recent years radical right actors – which encompasses nativist, authoritarian and populist political movements; both in the global north and parts of the south – are never too far from the headlines. Whether it is the atrocities that took place in Christchurch in March or the hype surrounding Matteo Salvini’s recently announced grouping in …
Read ArticleTowards a Disruptive Impact Agenda
Chris Hewson & Julie BayleyThe drive towards research needing to demonstrate social benefit has gathered pace in recent years. Impact is now a substantive part of research life for many; to varying degrees, understood, accepted, embedded, integrated, internalised, loved, cherished, or indeed reviled with a fervent passion. But it’s here, and we’ve slowly gotten accustomed to it. As a …
Read ArticleResources
- Explore and download our range of resources to support your pursuit of impact
‘Change Ready’ report
ReportOur intention with this report is to provide a sense of how ‘change ready’ we are as a research ecosystem to move beyond metrics and “to the provable effects of research in the real world” (the definition of impact we use at Emerald, closely aligned with the working definitions of those such as the UK …
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