Blog

The DORA team is excited to invite you our online event focused on advancing responsible research assessment practices in India, on June 06, 2025, 03:00 PM (India Standard Time). You can register at https://bit.ly/RRA-in-India. Hear from eminent scholars and policymakers Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, Prof. S. C. Lakhotia and Dr Michael Arentoft in a panel moderated…

The DORA team is excited to invite you to celebrate DORA’s 12th birthday with the launch of a “A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Performing Organizations” (download here). In three online panel sessions, DORA’s Chairs will introduce the guide, and guest speakers will discuss it in light of the specific contributions…

Madelaine Hare, Isabelle Dorsch, Heather Woods, Carey Ming-Li Chen, and Stefanie Haustein Team at the Scholarly Communications Lab (ScholCommLab)   Background: The Metrics Literacies project The Scholarly Communications Lab’s Metrics Literacies project, funded by the Social Sciences Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, aimed to test the effectiveness of different multimedia formats for educating researchers about…

Each quarter, DORA holds two Community of Practice (CoP) meetings for research funding organizations. One meeting takes place for organizations in the Asia-Pacific time zone and the other meeting is targeted to organizations in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The CoP is a space for funders to learn from each other, make connections with like-minded organizations,…

Each quarter, DORA holds two Community of Practice (CoP) meetings for research funding organizations. One meeting takes place for organizations in the Asia-Pacific time zone and the other meeting is targeted to organizations in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The CoP is a space for funders to learn from each other, make connections with like-minded organizations,…

Each quarter, DORA holds a Community of Practice (CoP) meeting for National and International Initiatives working to address responsible research assessment reform. This CoP is a space for initiatives to learn from each other, make connections with like-minded organizations, and collaborate on projects or topics of common interest. Meeting agendas are shaped by participants. If…

The Research on Research Institute (RoRI) is hosting the 2025 Metascience Conference from June 30 to July 2 at UCL, London, UK. The Global Summit will include 650 speakers and participants from the diverse metascience community “to share ideas and the latest evidence and methods, and foster a culture of continuous experimentation and learning.” Read…

Funding organisations are increasingly working to address inequalities in the grant life cycle. However, until recently, less attention has been paid to inequalities at the pre-award stage — which includes announcing opportunities, and preparing, submitting and reviewing applications. A 2022-23 project on this topic, led by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute at the University of Bristol…

There is an active discussion now about the role of scholarly bibliographic databases, how they affect what is counted in research and thus how they influence how researchers are assessed and in turn how innovation in research and publishing is supported. An international group has proposed four criteria for innovation-friendly bibliographic databases. 1️⃣Recognize diversity in…

DORA is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Giovanna Lima to the position of DORA Program Manager. She joins DORA after recent roles at Erasmus University, Rotterdam as Impact and Recognition & Rewards Senior Project Officer and at Trinity College, Dublin as Research Impact Officer. She has a PhD and Master’s degree in Public…

The November 2024 meetings of the Asia-Pacific and the Africa Americas Europe Funder Discussion Groups featured a presentation from the Global Research Council (GRC) working group on responsible research asssessment (RRA) Presenters were Claire Fraser (UKRI), Joanne Looyen (MBIE) and Anh-Khoi Trinh (NSERC). GRC working group on RRA GRC intends for their participants to adopt…

Today, DORA is announcing an update to its policy for organizational signatories. What is the new policy? Beginning on January 1, 2025, organizations and institutions that sign DORA will need to submit a public statement at the time of signing to be approved. Previously, organizations were asked to post a public statement when they signed…

  Publishing requires constant innovation and renewal in order for it to remain relevant. eLife has disrupted the traditional model of scholarly publishing: since its inception, innovation and academic-led publishing have been at the core of eLife‘s policies and processes. Presently, their peer review model requires submissions to be preprinted prior to peer review, followed…

Each quarter, DORA holds a Discussion Group meeting for National and International Initiatives working to address responsible research assessment reform. This community of practice is a space for initiatives to learn from each other, make connections with like-minded organizations, and collaborate on projects or topics of common interest. Meeting agendas are shaped by participants. If…

Adrian Barnett, Queensland University of Technology The winter months can get cold in Belfast, the largest city in Northern Ireland where the Titanic was designed, built and launched in the early 1900s. Not seriously cold of course, never sub-zero depths of cold that were the undoing of the Titanic on its maiden voyage, but a…

Judit Varga & Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner Research on Research Institute (RoRI); Centre for Science & Technology Studies, Leiden University. Contact: w.kaltenbrunner@cwts.leidenuniv.nl This blog post reports some preliminary findings from a project designed to investigate the evaluative use of narrative CVs. When funding organizations organize review panels to assess grant applications, reviewers need to agree on what…

19 representatives from 7 research funder organisations participated in the last quarterly Asia-Pacific Funder Discussion Group hosted by DORA. New DORA staff members, Liz Allen and Janet Catterall were introduced to the group. The position of DORA Program Manager is currently vacant. DORA updates to the group included the upcoming implementation guide and guidance document,…

The following post originally appeared on the Templeton World Charity Foundation blog. It is reposted here with their permission. Emerging policies to better recognize preprints and open scholarship Research funding organizations play an important role in setting the tone for what is valued in research assessment through the projects they fund and the outputs they…

Each quarter, DORA holds a Community of Practice (CoP) meeting for National and International Initiatives working to address responsible research assessment reform. This CoP is a space for initiatives to learn from each other, make connections with like-minded organizations, and collaborate on projects or topics of common interest. Meeting agendas are shaped by participants. If…

DORA has hit a new milestone by reaching the 25,000 signature mark. Each of those thousands of signatures represents an individual or organization that supports the principles of the original San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, drafted in 2013. Most signatures are from individuals, with QQ percent from various organizations, including universities, departments and libraries…

Announcements Reformscape in Full Swing Since its release in January, Reformscape has been serving the research community in providing 230 documents encouraging openness & transparency. New documents and information continue to be added and are always publicly available. Upgrades have also been made to make the platform more user-friendly. You can now search for responsible…

The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) came into being to try to end the misuse of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in the evaluation of research and researchers and has achieved considerable success in advancing reform of assessment practices. However, there are a number of other quantitative indicators derived from publishing activity which are used…

DORA seeks self-nominations for Steering Committee members based in Asia. DORA is a global initiative dedicated to the improvement of research assessment. Almost 25,000 individuals and organizations worldwide have signed DORA in the last decade, including research institutions, funders, and government agencies. The Steering Committee supports and shapes DORA’s mission and vision, as outlined in…

Click here to download this report. This report may also be found in DORA’s Resource Library. Background Research funding organizations are well positioned to be drivers of change towards more responsible research assessment practices. They are in a unique position to shape research culture, determining the allocation of resources, shaping research priorities, and influencing who…

Each quarter, DORA holds two Community of Practice (CoP) meetings for research funding organizations. One meeting takes place for organizations in the Asia-Pacific time zone and the other meeting is targeted to organizations in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. If you are employed by a public or private research funder and interested in joining the…