The editorial introduces the special issue on evaluation and impact reflection. Drawing on conceptual work developed within the KOMWEID project at HAW Hamburg it elaborates impact reflection as a reframed perspective on evaluation and impact orientation. It outlines the motivation and conceptual design of the special issue and situates the articles within a shared scholarly context. Experiences from the KOMWEID project are combined with additional impulses from research and practice. This special issue brings together diverse perspectives on evaluation, impact orientation, and reflection, and opens a discourse on their role in teaching, curriculum, and higher education development. At the same time, it makes visible different approaches to dialogical, reflexive, impact-oriented, and learning-oriented evaluation.