The Flemish Research Discipline Standard: Review and Update Procedure

This paper describes the procedures for reviewing the Flemish Research Discipline Standard (Vlaamse OnderzoeksDiscipline Standaard, VODS) 2018 and developing the updated VODS 2023. The background, scope, principles, and consultation process are described, and an overview of the key changes are presented. The scope of the review was to remain aligned with current research practices and international standards and remain appropriate for statistical and reporting purposes. The VODS 2023 includes new discipline codes that were not present in the previous version. Some codes have been decoupled or merged compared to the VODS 2018 version. Some codes have been removed in the VODS 2023 because they have become obsolete. A discussion is included on how to improve the review process for future updates.