

Quality and criteria
Code of Conduct
- The Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity 2018 (pdf)
- SENSE recommendations for co-authorships scientific publications (pdf)
SENSE quality monitoring
The quality of the individual institutes of the research school is monitored with regular peer reviews and (re-)accreditation by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), in accordance with the Standard Evaluation Protocol for Dutch universities.
SENSE was accredited by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for the period 1997–2001, and was re-accredited in 2002 and 2008. In 2014 SENSE got a positive evaluation by an external review committee. After 2014, the PhD policy and training became part of the regular Strategic Evaluation Protocol (SEP) assessment of the individual SENSE institutes. The deans and rectors of some of the SENSE institutes preferred a joint evaluation and asked SENSE to coordinate the external review of five SENSE institutes in line with the Strategic Evaluation Protocol (SEP 2021-2027) in 2021. The evaluation is performed by an assessment committee, consisting of independent academic peers as well as optionally non-academic experts.
- SENSE update December 2020 (pdf)
- The final evaluation report as written by the Midterm Review Committee 2014: Assessment Report Environmental and Sustainability Sciences 2014 (pdf)
SENSE Benchmarks for Publication Output
As a national research school with international ambition, SENSE uses standards to assess the quality of the scientific output. Such performance standards are important as a yardstick for the evaluation of the overall progress of the School; as a benchmark for the membership of researchers and institutes in the School; and as a jointly agreed comparative measurement for the 6-year external evaluation of institutes and research departments.
SENSE has developed a set of performance criteria, the so-called ‘SENSE Benchmarks”, which have been approved by the SENSE General Board. The SENSE institutes are responsible themselves to decide whether a staff member meets the criteria and can become a SENSE member or not.
SENSE distinguishes between A, B, and C journals, and for books between A, B, and C publishers.
Please note that the WASS-SENSE ranking list of publishers has been set up for the WASS and SENSE Dutch Graduate Schools only. The list is based on the publishing houses used by our researchers. It should not be used by other institutes.