The impact of academic events: A literature review

Demands that publicly funded scientific research should demonstrate its academic and societal impact have been commonplace for some time. Research communities, university administrators and policy-makers are looking to impact assessments and impact toolkits to better communicate the value of scholarly work, to increase collaboration with non-academic partners and to achieve a broad range of socio-economic benefits. Impact assessment frameworks are occupied with documenting the effects of science on a large number of variables. However, the participation and hosting of academic events have not been included in most frameworks. In this scoping review, we demonstrate that academic events are an important vehicle for academic and societal value-creation that should be integrated in future impact studies. The review presents the main trends in the literature by categorizing the impact of academic events into four principal categories and 12 sub-categories of impact. By hosting and participating in academic events, scholars maximize the uptake and circulation of research findings as well as promote knowledge-sharing and agenda-setting with potential impact on the academic community and society at large. Most of the reviewed studies focus on clinical research and computer science. However, the review, also demonstrates that the impact of academic events is currently underexplored. This review provides a first step toward a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of academic events