DORA community interviews provide an opportunity for supporters to discuss innovation in research assessment and to better understand how to initiate effective change in local communities. This time we are talking with the executive director of the Belmont Forum, Dr. Erica Key about recognizing data in research assessment. Please join our discussion at 11:00AM EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Implementing DORA – a funder perspective
In order to fully realise the benefits of open research, we must fundamentally change the way research is assessed. Wellcome is seeking to implement the DORA principles in our own funding processes and support research institutions in changing their own assessment practices.
Reform or remove student evaluations of teaching
The retention, promotion, and tenure (RPT) process is a critical part of a faculty member’s career, during which they are ostensibly evaluated on scholarship, teaching, and service. However, a faculty member’s funding and publication track records are typically weighted more heavily as indicators of productivity. As a result, flawed metrics of teaching and service persist.
Redefining Impact in the Humanities and Social Sciences
On Wednesday April 3, 2019, we hosted a #sfDORA community interview with Janet Halliwell to learn more about the 2017 report from the Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Canada, Approaches to Assessing Impacts in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We also wanted to hear about a new project she is working on to improve assessment in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) by creating a standardized vocabulary of terms related to research assessment.
DORA 6 years out: A global community 14,000 strong
DORA turns 6 years old this week. Or, as we like to say, this year DORA reached 14,000—that’s how many people have signed DORA, and they come from more than 100 countries! Each signature represents an individual committed to improving research assessment in their community, in their corner of the world. And 1,300 organizations in more than 75 countries, in signing DORA, have publicly committed to improving their practices in research evaluation and to encouraging positive change in research culture.
DORA – accentuating the positive
The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is well known for its strong position on the need to eliminate the use of journal-based metrics in decisions on hiring, promotion, or funding of academics. As such, it is sometimes taken to be an initiative merely focused on criticising the undue influence of one specific metric, the journal impact factor (JIF). But to see DORA just in those terms overlooks the many positive prescriptions that the declaration lays out for how to reform research assessment
Impacts, Outputs, and Approaches to Assessment in the Humanities
There certainly is not a magic bullet when it comes to comprehensive and efficient research assessment, whether in the humanities or STEM fields. Publisher prestige currently influences tenure assessments in the humanities, as do journal names in the life sciences.
#sfDORA community interview: exploring impact in the Humanities and Social Sciences
DORA community interviews provide an opportunity for supporters to discuss innovation in research assessment and to better understand how to initiate effective change in local communities. This time we are talking with Janet Halliwell about the 2017 report from the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences in Canada that looks at assessing impact in those disciplines.
Breaking habits: reducing bias in hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions
Researchers should not be evaluated based on factors outside of their control. While hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions in academia are in principle based on the merit of scholarly contributions, implicit biases influence who we hire and who we promote. Even if they are unintentional, biases have consequences.At the AAAS meeting in Washington, DC, this February, we explored approaches to addressing bias and increasing the diversity of the academic workforce in the session, “Academic Research Assessment: Reducing Biases in Evaluation."
Recognizing regional differences can improve evaluation
Across the world, institutions and funders experience similar challenges in hiring, promotion, and funding decisions. How do we define research quality? What criteria should be included in researcher assessments? While some challenges might be shared, the academic ecosystem can vary from region to region.