The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) will be 10 years old on May 16, 2023.
To mark the occasion, we invite the worldwide community to join with us in organizing a week of events to examine both DORA’s impact on the reform of research assessment and the challenges that still lie ahead. The momentum for change is building across the globe, but we need to keep pushing together to achieve our goals!
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Monday, 15 May 2023
Publisher bans & DORA
Hamilton, Canada
15 May 10:00 (local time) / 15 May 14:00 (UTC) / Virtual event
Publishers like MDPI and Frontiers have grown rapidly. But some institutions have created policies to stop their scientists from submitting articles to these publishers. This event examines whether such bans are consistent with DORA and academic freedom.
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Publishers like MDPI, Frontiers, and Hindawi have experienced enormous growth in the number of submissions from researchers, which would suggest they they are meeting needs of the research community and providing good value to researchers. But multiple institutions have told scientists that research in journals from these publishers will no longer "count" for assessment. Such policies suggest that these are "predatory" publishers that do not perform the basic functions of academic journals. The publishers dispute this, as do many authors whose work appears in their journals. Many authors believe that choosing where to publishing their findings is part of their academic freedom. Blacklisting publishers with hundreds of journals may be too blunt an instrument for research assessment and inconsistent with DORA. Are there cases where such bans are valid and useful to the community?
This event will be held as an online round-table discussion followed by a moderated Q & A session.
Hosted by Zen Faulkes
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
DORA at 10: A look at our history and the bright future of responsible research assessment (Asia-Pacific Plenary)
United States
15 May 20:00 (local time) / 16 May 00:00 (UTC) / Virtual event
As part of DORA's 10th Anniversary Celebration, we are holding two, 2-hour plenary sessions to capture as many time zones as possible and ensure opportunities for community participation worldwide. This is the information for the Asia-Pacific Plenary.
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During the plenary, we will discuss the state of the field, our past decade of work, and the future of DORA and responsible research assessment. Following introductory statements from DORA’s Vice-Chair, Ginny Barbour (Open Access Australasia), and a keynote address by Mai Har Sham (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), we will hold a panel discussion with experts from across the globe. Follow us @DORAssessment on Twitter to stay updated!
Hosted by DORA
DORA at 10: A look at our history and the bright future of responsible research assessment (Africa, Americas, Europe Plenary)
United States
16 May 08:00 (local time) / 16 May 12:00 (UTC) / Virtual event
As part of DORA's 10th Anniversary Celebration, we are holding two, 2-hour plenary sessions to capture as many time zones as possible and ensure opportunities for community participation worldwide. This is the information for the Africa, Americas, and Europe Plenary.
More information
During the plenary, we will discuss the state of the field, our past decade of work, and the future of DORA and responsible research assessment. Following introductory statements from DORA’s Chair, Stephen Curry (Imperial College London) and a keynote address by Sarah de Rijcke (Leiden University), we will hold a panel discussion with experts from across the globe. Follow us @DORAssessment on Twitter to stay updated!
Hosted by DORA
DORA@10, Artificial Intelligence with #ChatGPT and Research in the Global South
Accra, Ghana
16 May 12:00 (local time) / 16 May 12:00 (UTC) / Virtual event
This session organized by the research lab of Dataking Consulting together with AuthorAID Ghana Hub aims to discuss the use of emerging AI technologies, the ethical concerns and the broader metrics of DORA as well as what researchers in the Global South need to focus on.
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The Global South has been lagging behind regarding the publication of quality research based on the critical problems in their contexts. This is evident in the use of research outputs in the assessment of the quality and impact of researchers. This is usually driven by the limited research resources amidst the limited capacity to develop top-notch analyses on issues. This panel session aims to bring together academics from Global South academic institutions to discuss the role of DORA over the past 10 years, and what emerging AI tools like ChatGPT mean for ethical research in the Global South.
This session will also benefit from the support of the International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP), AuthorAID, UK, the VIT Centre for TVET Policy and Education, as well as, the Business and Economic Policy House.
Hosted by Dataking Consulting
Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Third research colloquium of the Autonomous University of Queretaro
Querétaro, Mexico
17 May 09:00 (local time) / 17 May 14:00 (UTC) / In person event
The main objective of the event is to share the social impacts of research projects financed by the Autonomous University of Querétaro since 2020. Besides, the Rector of the University is going to publicly sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment.
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The main objective of the event is to share the social impacts of research projects financed by the Autonomous University of Querétaro since 2020. For that purpose five projects coming from the Natural and Social sciences are going to be selected using as criteria their capacity to provide evidence of social impact.
Besides, the Rector of the University is going to publicly sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment. After that, a World Cafe is going to be facilitated to discuss how to develop better scientific evaluation policies within the Autonomous University of Queretaro.
Hosted by Autonomous University of Querétaro
Thursday, 18 May 2023
Why I signed DORA
United Kingdom
18 May 14:00 (local time) / 18 May 13:00 (UTC) / Virtual event
Over 20,000 individuals have signed DORA, but we often focus more on the 2,735 organisations who have done so.
In this open discussion researchers and research supporters discuss why they signed the Declaration in a personal capacity - what it means to them today, and why they hope others will too
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A diverse group of researchers from different disciplines and at different career stages discuss why they signed DORA from a personal perspective. They are joined by others working in research support such as librarians or research assessment specialists.
The aim is to have a free-form, open conversation that focuses on personal values rather than organisational strategy. We will cover questions such as ‘would you still sign DORA today?’ ‘What does DORA mean to you?’ ‘What has DORA achieved’?
The event is organised by Liam Bullingham and Nicola Wylie from the LIS-Bibliometrics Committee, a global group of practitioners who seek to support their organisations in providing responsible bibliometric and research evaluation services.
Hosted by Liam Bullingham and Nicola Wylie
Guidelines for proposal submission
DORA is calling for proposals for virtual, hybrid, or in-person events on responsible research assessment as part of our #DORAat10 celebrations from 15-19 May 2023. To submit your idea for an event, please fill out the form. The proposals will be reviewed by DORA staff and all those that are appropriate will be advertised on our website.
When: Your event should take place within the week scheduled for the #DORAat10 celebrations: May 15-19, 2023.
Note: If you would like to organize an event for the #DORAat10 Celebration but are unable to do so during the week of May 15-19, please reach out to us at info@sfdora.org. We are happy to accommodate exceptions to feature local events that are held in May.
What types of events qualify? Be imaginative! Events can be of any format including webinars, introspective sessions, conferences, seminars, campfire discussions, and workshops. More examples of the types of events and topics for the #DORAat10 Celebration can be found in the FAQ here. Formal and informal events are welcome. If you have a question, contact us at info@sfdora.org!
Who can submit an event proposal? We are seeking event proposals from anyone interested in good research assessment. This includes, for example, academic staff or faculty, researchers studying biases in evaluation, librarians, research managers, early career researchers, bibliometricians, funders, initiatives for responsible research assessment, publishers, and societies.
How event proposals will be evaluated: The evaluation will be light touch, mainly to ensure that the proposal is relevant to DORA’s mission to reform research assessment policies and practices. Creativity is welcome! We are keen to highlight the broad range of ways that research assessment reform has taken place over the past 10 years and to explore ideas for accelerating the pace of reform. We strongly encourage submissions from all global regions and disciplines. Proposals will be evaluated by DORA staff on a rolling basis to ensure they are relevant to research assessment reform.
Deadline for submission: May 19, 2023.
What happens when my proposal is accepted? Once your proposal is accepted, we will reach out to you for further information about your event to feature on the DORA website. For example, we will need the registration link for your event and other related links. You will also be invited to submit a blog summary of your event to be featured on the DORA website.
For more information, see our FAQ here.