Recently, in the fields of scientific research awards and professional title evaluation, the status of papers is undergoing a series of subtle and profound changes. For a long time, papers have been the core indicator for measuring the academic level and contribution of researchers, and their publication quantity, journal level, citation frequency, and other data have always been the "hard currency" for awards and professional titles. But as the academic evaluation system develops towards refinement and diversification, the pattern dominated by a single paper indicator is being broken, and a multidimensional scientific research achievement evaluation system is gradually taking shape.

Taking the professional title evaluation reform of a "Double First Class" university in China as an example, the university has explicitly proposed in the latest revised "Management Measures for Professional Title Evaluation" that the professional title evaluation will adopt a composite evaluation model of "basic indicators+characteristic indicators". Among them, the basic indicators still include elements related to the paper, but the weight has decreased by 15% compared to before; The characteristic indicators cover 12 specific indicators, including the industrialization benefits of scientific research projects, the area of technology promotion and application, and the adoption of policy consulting reports. The person in charge of the human resources department of the school introduced: "In the past, people often focused on the impact factors and publication quantity of papers, and even had the phenomenon of 'papers for the sake of papers'. Now, we hope to guide researchers to combine their research directions with national needs and industry pain points through indicator adjustment, so that academic research can truly take root." In the actual evaluation, an associate professor in the field of agricultural engineering successfully promoted his research and application of water-saving irrigation technology in 10 provinces with a cumulative water-saving effect of over 300 million cubic meters, even though the number of papers was slightly less than other competitors.

In the field of technology award application, similar changes are also significant. The National Science and Technology Award Evaluation Committee has added a special scoring section on "Achievement Transformation and Social Contribution" in its 2024 evaluation work, with a weight of 20%. In the evaluation of the Science and Technology Progress Award in a certain province, the research and development team of a new energy enterprise submitted only 60% of the papers submitted by peer application teams. However, due to the industrial application of its photovoltaic module conversion efficiency improvement technology and an annual new production value exceeding 5 billion yuan, it ultimately won the first prize. The reviewer stated, "We encourage research that can truly solve practical problems. Papers are important academic carriers, but should not be the only yardstick for measuring contributions

The adjustment of this evaluation system does not negate the value of the paper, but rather optimizes the logic of academic evaluation. Statistics show that in the professional title evaluation of various universities and research institutions in 2024, the paper index still maintains a core weight of about 60%. However, the inclusion of indicators such as the application of scientific research achievements and industry contributions has enabled more than 15% of applicants to achieve breakthroughs through non paper advantages. This trend indicates that academic evaluation is shifting from "only focusing on papers" to "emphasizing both papers and achievements", creating a more scientific growth channel for researchers.