We can all use assessment and appraisal to help us improve our performance in any area of life. Healthcare researchers are no exception. For healthcare researchers a system is required to measure research performance according to an accepted global benchmark.

While there are existing systems that have been created to measure research performance in general, and healthcare research performance has been appraised with several bibliometric indicators, there is a lack of evidence to prove their validity and a deficiency of indicators that embrace social behaviours such as collaboration.

In this thesis we endeavoured to enhance knowledge on healthcare research performance assessment, which has the potential to be integrated into systems that specifically appraise healthcare research performance. Ultimately, these systems may promote a performance-based culture that better reflects the quality and impact of healthcare research.