Institution Profile: University of Southampton

• The University of Southampton devised a responsible research metrics statement to inform the assessment of candidates for hiring, promotions and appraisals.
• Assessors are required to review the principles and demonstrate that metrics used for assessment are more suitable than expert judgement alone, as well as provide links to any source data to enable transparency.
• Assessors are recommended to ignore any reference an applicant makes to journal impact factors or journal rankings when assessing the quality of a piece of research.
• Although applicants are not penalized for including journal-based metrics – they are instructed to qualify qualitatively why their research is important.
• The University website provides resources, including links to further readings on responsible use of bibliometrics and altmetrics, worked examples of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ practices in research applications, and a research metrics matrix to inform candidates on whether to include various indicators in their applications. Staff are also provided training opportunities to enrol in.