In this piece, Alicia Kowaltowski, Ariel Silber, and Marcus Oliveira outline challenges faced by the scientific research community resulting from the current framework of academic assessment. Challenges outlined by the authors include:
- Increased pressure on researchers to produce knowledge
- Increased pressure on researchers to publish and increased frequency of retraction of scientific articles due to lack of reproducibility or misconduct.
- Increased difficulty obtain funding
In response to these challenges, the authors proposed a scientist-based movement to improve scientific assessment, the “Initiative for Responsible Scientific Assessment (IRSA)”. The goals of the IRSA are to:
- Strengthen and expand previous movements in the scientific community such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, the Leiden Manifesto, the Responsible Research and Innovation movement, and the Metric Tide.
- Elevate the value of quality peer review.
- Recognize seminal findings by researchers.
- Promote actions to associate quality assessment with more representative scientometric metrics in academic decisions.
- Submit manuscripts to journals with editors who are active scientists with recognized reputation in the field.
Finally, the authors provided an online petition to endorse IRSA. See here.
Kowaltowski AJ, Silber AM, and Oliveira MF (2021). Responsible Science Assessment: downplaying indexes, boosting quality. doi: 10.1590/0001-3765202120191513