Introduction and Structure

Over the past decades, scholars and practitioners around the world have observed the emergence of professionals who actively engage in supporting research and related activities as research managers and administrators (RMAs). Research projects are becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, involving multiple institutions and often requiring large teams of researchers with different areas of expertise. There is also an increasing focus on research integrity and the need to provide guidance and support on issues such as research ethics, data management, and research governance. In addition, researchers are faced with increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact of their work. RMAs can provide support to ensure that research is conducted efficiently, ethically, and with impact, both in terms of academic outputs and broader societal effects.

Despite the surging interest in the profession and the developments in the field, there has been little effort to investigate RMAs in a comparative manner. An initiative was thus launched to put together observations from around the globe and across disciplines to provide a cross-regional and cross-cultural account of the professionals who actively engage in research support as RMAs. 127 authors contributed their observations on over 50 countries that reside across 7 regions: Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Middle East.

Capturing wide ranging topics to communicate with varying audiences, the book is designed to serve multiple purposes. It is a handbook for individuals who are considering a career in research management and administration (RMA). It also serves as a reference text for those concerned with developing policies to support research. The handbook also provides knowledge for students who are otherwise unfamiliar with RMA as an occupation. Ultimately, the volume aims to offer evidence-based discussion as a foundation to promote not only the visibility and recognition of RMAs, but also social awareness about the profession.

The book was edited by three individuals who have come from diverse backgrounds while sharing a mutual interest in studying the emerging global trends in the field of RMA. Simon Kerridge (University of Kent) has been actively leading the field as principal investigator of the RAAAP surveys, while Susi Poli (Bologna University) has been researching RMAs utilising vast knowledge and experience on the subject. Mariko Yang-Yoshihara (Stanford University) brings in a critical perspective to provide cross-discipline, cross-cultural voices to the project. The Editors have been responsible for instilling and executing the book’s overall vision, creating and providing guidelines for authors, and ensuring intellectual consistency over separate sections that involved both academic and practical knowledge.

The scope and scale of the book necessitated the involvement of ‘Regional Editors’ to assist in author identification and management, assist in the country-specific chapters and chapters within their expertise. Jan Andersen, Melinda Fischer, Mark Hochman, Fernanda Oliveira, Makiko Takahashi, Therina Theron, and Virág Zsár served as the Regional Editors, liaising with authors and keeping them accountable for their contribution to align with the book’s vision.

The book is structured in two parts. Part 1 presents the chapters by researchers and practitioners with a goal to provide frameworks to help address the challenges and opportunities that RMA are faced with. We hope that these works will inform future research and help develop the best practices in the field. Part 2 brings together descriptions of the current state of research management and administration across countries. There are over 50 states and regions represented in these chapters, offering a comprehensive global overview of the RMA landscape. Authors from more than 40 countries, primarily practitioners with some scholars, have shared their observations and insights. Typically, the first part is more theoretical and ‘academic’ in nature, while the second part is more discursive and ‘practitioner’ focussed.

The book does not intend to provide a comprehensive understanding of the tasks and responsibilities of an RMA. Instead, it delves into the broader issues of the formation and evolution of these professional groups, which has become an essential part of the research ecosystem. Its focus is on explaining the reasons behind their existence and the significance of their roles in the increasingly globalised research landscape. The rationale, structure, and content of the book are as follows. For those seeking detailed technical information and practical guidance on research management and administration, it is recommended to explore the numerous RMA associations, many of which are discussed in this book, or visit the membership page of the International Network of Research Management Organisations (INORMS, n.d.). Additionally, there are print-based resources available, such as Kulakowksi and Chronister (2011), which has a US focus, and Andersen et al. (2017), which centres on Europe. Moreover, there are four academic journals dedicated to RMA: the Journal of Research Administration,¹ the Research Management Review,² the Journal of Research Management and Governance,³ and the Journal of Research Management and Administration.⁴

Part 1 is organised into four sections. Section 1 includes seven chapters covering the History of the development of RMA in different parts of the world. Section 2 has eight chapters focusing on the Context in which research management and administration operates. Section 3 comprises seven chapters, exploring the Identity of RMAs, while Section 4 delves into the Professionalism of RMAs. For a more detailed overview of Part 1 and guidance on how to navigate it, please refer to Chapter 1 (Yang-Yoshihara & Poli, 2023). Part 2 consists of a single section with 42 chapters, each offering a practitioner’s perspective on the state of research management and administration in a specific geographic region. This section includes an introduction (Kerridge, 2023c, Chapter 5.1) outlining the chapter order, and a concluding chapter featuring contributions from all the Regional Editors (Kerridge, Andersen, et al., 2023, Chapter 5.44), which highlights both commonalities and differences among regions. Finally, Section 6 has a single entry (Yang-Yoshihara, Kerridge, et al., 2023, Chapter 6) featuring the Editors’ reflection of the project and discussion of the key findings presented throughout this book.

As in any other emerging fields, acronyms abound in the domain of RMA. To assist readers, we have provided a Glossary section that covers many country- and region-specific terms, as well as international expressions. However, some terms pose challenges, including the word ‘RMA’ itself. In this book, we employ ‘Research Management and Administration’ to refer to the field or domain, and ‘Research Manager and Administrator’ to denote an individual practitioner in the field. It is important to clarify that RMA is by no means an internationally agreed-upon term. For example, in North America, ‘Research Administrator’ is predominant, while in South America and Africa, ‘Research and Innovation Manager’ is more popularly used. In a recent survey (Kerridge, Dutta, et al., 2022), those identifying as working in the RMA field were asked to select their preferred title. Across 26 countries with at least 10 respondents totaling n = 2,075, no consensus emerged on a single term for the profession; all but two countries used seven or more of the provided terms. This underscores that, while there may be a shared understanding of the role of RMAs, there is no unified identity regarding the terminology used to describe them. This topic is explored in various chapters in Part 1.

This book is fully Open Access and available online, free of charge to a broader audience. Readers should note that each chapter consists of several parts, each beginning with an abstract to guide them. We intended each chapter to be self-contained, allowing readers to extract and read them as standalone articles. As such, there may be some recurring themes and inevitable repetition of ideas across chapters. Every chapter is provided with its own DOI (Digital Object Identifier), and we have utilized standard author-name citations to facilitate future retrieval. While the entire book boasts a comprehensive reference list with over 1,000 entries, each chapter also includes its own list of references. In general, we have encouraged citations from a variety of sources beyond academic articles, reserving footnotes primarily for straightforward web references. This means that documents from websites or specific web pages would normally be cited, while a website homepage would receive only a footnote.

Last but not least, we have adopted the CRediT taxonomy for author contributions to chapters, you can discern which authors contributed to specific aspects of the chapter. Additionally, authors have included their Orcid identifiers where available, enabling you to access more information about them and explore their other works, beyond what they’ve provided in their mini biographies.

The Editors would like to thank each and every one of our authors, who come from various parts of the world and contributed to this project – totaling 127 individuals. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to our outstanding Regional Editors listed below, whose invaluable contributions were instrumental in making this book project a reality. As well as contributing chapters and overseeing some of the submissions in Part 1 of the book, they played a crucial role in managing specific geographic regions:

• Jan Andersen – Western Europe

• Melinda Fischer – North America

• Mark Hochman – Australasia, and the Middle East

• Fernanda Stringassi de Oliveira – South America

• Makiko Takahashi – Asia

• Therina Theron – Africa

• Virág Zsár – Eastern and Central Europe

• During the production phase of the book, we had the opportunity to meet with several Regional Editors and other authors at the EARMA and INORMS conferences in 2023.