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Introduction to DORA: a short presentation at the Global Research Council’s virtual Responsible Research Assessment Conference

DORA chair, Prof. Stephen Curry made a short introduction to DORA for the Global Research Council conference on Responsible Research Assessment, which was held online over the week of 23-27 November 2020. He briefly explains the origins of DORA, the meaning of the declaration, and how DORA developed into an active initiative campaigning for the world-wide reform of research assessment.

Science Foundation Ireland takes an iterative approach to develop a narrative CV

The Dutch Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, Swiss National Science Foundation, and UKRI are all experimenting with narrative CV formats as part of their evaluation of grant proposals. At DORA’s virtual funder discussion on September 23, 2020, Rochelle Fritch and Laura Mackey presented Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) ongoing work to develop a narrative CV format for its funding mechanisms.

The intersections between DORA, open scholarship, and equity

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), published in May 2013, does not mention the term ‘open scholarship.’ And yet DORA and open scholarship are becoming increasingly entwined. DORA’s ambition is to improve research evaluation practices but the practicalities of implementation make it impossible to separate the evaluation of research from questions about who and what research is for, who gets to be involved, and how it should best be carried out, all of which have to take account of the power dynamics that shape the scholarly landscape.

Academic research culture influences learned behaviors in graduate students

For the past eight years the DORA has advocated that research institutions reevaluate their research assessment practices for recruitment, promotion, and funding decisions. To inform the evaluation of scientific productivity, DORA encourages the use of explicit criteria beyond popular bibliometrics like the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) or H-index. These criteria include a range of output measures, such as the generation of new software and datasets, research impact on a field, transparency, training early-career researchers, and influence on policy.

Ideas for responsible research assessment in the Asia-Pacific region

Discussions about research integrity are prompting a reevaluation of research culture, including academic assessment. To understand the opportunities and barriers to improve academic assessment in the Asia-Pacific region, DORA hosted its first webinar in collaboration with the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG) on Thursday, July 2, 2020. Panelists included Michael Barber, Australian Academy of Science; Yukiko Gotoh, The University of Tokyo; Xiaoxuan Li, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Donna McRostie, University of Melbourne; and Justin Zobel, University of Melbourne.

Updates from Research England and the Open Research Funders Group

Communication is an important mechanism to increase the uptake of responsible research assessment practices at universities and funding agencies. To help, DORA brings together public and private research funders for a virtual meeting each quarter to discuss new policies, practices, and pilot experiments for assessing research. On Thursday, June 25, 2020, Claire Fraser, senior policy advisor at Research England and Greg Tananbaum, director of the Open Research Funders Group (ORFG), provided updates on their latest efforts to improve research assessment.  

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