Scientometric procedures are increasingly used to analyse developments and trends in science and technology. Decisions to be taken often have severe implications. Consequently, data handling, indicator construction and interpretation require competent expert knowledge, which is currently only available to a limited extent for all stakeholders in Central Europe not the least due to lacking training opportunities.

Responding to the lack of a pertinent scientometrics education (especially in German speaking countries) and to the increasing demand (particularly of research quality managers), the University of Vienna (A), the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies – DZHW (D) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (B) joined cooperatively to found the European Summer School for Scientometrics (esss) in 2010.

Since 2017 the EC3metrics Group of the University of Granada has become an official partner of the esss.