Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42859238›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental management2026

Rationality Criteria for Complex Goal Systems: The case of the EU Water Framework Directive.

Neelke Doorn, Karin Edvardsson Björnberg, Sven Ove Hansson

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Neelke DoornDelft University of Technology, School of Technology, Policy and Management, Department of Values, Technology and Innovation, Delft, The Netherlands. N.Doorn@tudelft.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1090-579X
Karin Edvardsson BjörnbergKTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4063-3219
Sven Ove HanssonKTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0071-3919

Funding

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek VI.Vidi.195.119
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We extend a previous list of four rationality criteria for the setting of a single goal to a list of six rationality criteria for the construction of large goal systems, such as those commonly established for sustainability policies. These criteria are applied to the European Union's Water Framework Directive (WFD). For each of the six criteria we find deficiencies that should preferably be redressed in future revisions of the framework. Based on this example, we argue that in the future, complex goal systems should be carefully analysed from the viewpoint of goal-setting rationality before they are adopted.

Indexed as

Conservation of Natural ResourcesConservation of Water ResourcesEnvironmental PolicyWater QualityWater SupplyEuropean UnionGoalsGoal-settingRationalityWater Framework DirectiveWater quality

Identifiers

PMID42859238
PMCPMC13653833

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.