DORA welcomes two new Advisory Board members, Kelly Cobey and Judith Sutz
Meet Kelley Cobey
Kelly Cobey is an Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and serves as the institution’s Publications Officer. She is actively involved in meta-research topics related to journalology (publication science).
Meet Judith Sutz
Judith Sutz is a Professor at Universidad de la República Uruguay and Academic Coordinator with the Comisión Sectorial de Investigación Científica (CSIC). Her research focuses on the specific conditions for innovation and knowledge production, and their social uses in developing countries.
DORA welcomes new Steering Committee member Marc Schlitz
Meet Marc Schiltz
Marc Schiltz is Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR). He was recently re-elected President of Science Europe, an association of major European research funding and research performing organizations. In addition, Marc serves as a member of the Governing Board of the Global Research Council, which brings together global figures from science and engineering.
New: Rethinking Research Assessment Equity Briefing
DORA, in collaboration with Prof. Ruth Schmidt of the Illinois Institute of Technology, is pleased to announce a new “Rethinking Research Assessment” briefing document, “Unintended Cognitive and Systems Biases,” which identifies seven personal biases that can influence hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. While recognizing these biases at a personal level is important, creating new structural and institutional conditions to reduce bias can be even more valuable. So the brief also details four infrastructural implications of these biases and provides strategies for universities and departments to develop new institutional conditions that reduce bias. Ruth and I (Anna Hatch) are providing context for the brief in a series of four posts for the PLOS blog. Read the first installment in the series here.
New project: Analyzing the Outcomes of Efforts and Interventions to Improve Research Assessment
DORA released five design principles in May to help academic institutions experiment with and improve their research assessment practices. As a next step, we are pleased to announce our newest project with Prof. Ruth Schmidt to develop a framework to help academic institutions analyze the outcomes of their interventions and efforts to improve research assessment. While the work is currently in progress, more than 70 individuals from around the world responded to a survey DORA sent to better understand what signals indicate positive progress toward responsible academic assessment. Forty individuals participated in virtual working sessions to collectively examine progress to improve academic assessment.
New project: Reimagining Academic Assessment Stories of Innovation and Change
In collaboration with the European University Association (EUA) and SPARC Europe, DORA is conducting a series of structured interviews to develop a collection of case studies on responsible academic assessment. The goal of the project is to examine the institutional change process for academic assessment reform. It will culminate in a published report and a digital repository of searchable case studies on the DORA website. We hope these resources will serve as a tool for institutions seeking to review or improve their academic assessment processes by providing clarity on how and in which context reform of academic assessment is being developed and implemented, and by illustrating potential pathways for institutional change in other settings.
New publication: “Research Culture: Changing how we evaluate research is difficult, but not impossible”
In a new article published in eLife, DORA Steering Committee Chair Prof. Stephen Curry (Imperial College London) and I outline a framework for driving institutional change based on a meeting DORA co-sponsored with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute last year. The framework has four broad goals: understand the obstacles to changes in the way research is assessed; experiment with different approaches; create a shared vision when revising existing policies and practices; and communicate that vision on campus and beyond. Read the full article here.
New blog post: The intersections between DORA, open scholarship, and equity
In a new blog post, DORA examines the growing interactions between responsible research assessment, the open scholarship movement, and equity and inclusion in academia. Read the blog post for more.