How Peer Review Empowers the Academic Profession and University Managers: Changes in Relationships between the State, Universities and the Professoriate
Résumé
Universities are expected to be important players in the development of knowledge economies; therefore,
they are a priority on the policy agenda of the European commission and of member states. To understand
the new institutional settings where knowledge production is achieved, we must turn our attention to
analyzing the reforms underway.
Building on conclusions from the sociology of professions, the sociology of organizations and public
policy analysis, this paper argues that the policy instruments developed by public authorities to measure
scientific performance and selectively allocate resources rely on peer review processes and reinforce an
academic elite. As a result, the internal power distribution within the academic profession as well as
within universities has changed.
On the one hand, peer review is used as a managerial tool by universities. The decisions made at the
university level are largely based on (and legitimated by) evaluations conducted outside the university
by an elite sitting in research councils, editorial boards, and evaluation agencies.
On the other hand, rather than weakening professional power, the recent reforms have instead led to a
reconfiguration of the academic profession. Their influence is twofold. First, they have empowered those
individuals who set the norms according to which academic activities are rewarded and funded by public
actors. Second, they bolster those who receive positive reviews, since they gain a stronger position to
negotiate with the managers of their university.