Project TARA

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Tools to Advance Research Assessment (TARA) is a project to facilitate the development of new policies and practices for academic career assessment.

Reformscape
An online open dataset that shows criteria and standards academic institutions use for hiring, review, promotion, and tenure around the world.

Reformscape.org

Toolkit
A toolkit of resources is informed by the academic community to support academic institutions working to improve policy and practice. 

Building Blocks for Impact

Debiasing Committee Composition and Deliberative Processes

Survey
A survey of U.S. academic institutions to gain a broad understanding of institutional attitudes and approaches to research assessment reform.

Practicing responsible research assessment: Qualitative study of faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure assessments in the United States.

Project TARA is supported by a generous three-year grant from Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge. It will help DORA identify, understand, and make visible the criteria and standards universities use to make hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. This information will be used to create resources and practical guidance on research assessment reform for academic and scholarly institutions.

Latest news

Project timeline

     Reformscape          Toolkit          Survey

2021
Jul. 2021

Funding received

DORA is awarded a three-year, $1.2M grant from Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage, and promote open access to knowledge.

Sep. 2021

First Project TARA community call: dashboard scoping event

DORA holds its first community call to gather feedback from the community about the development of and criteria to be included in the TARA dashboard.

Oct. 2021

Develop initial list of toolkit resources to develop

Oct. 2021

Identify source material for the dashboard

Through Nov. 2021: Collect resources to be included in the dashboard.

Nov. 19, 2021: Second Project TARA community call: sprint to gather insight on materials to be included in the dashboard

Nov. 2021

Develop survey

Dec. 2021

Determine dashboard functions and visualization

Through Feb. 2022.

Dec. 2021

Develop initial concepts for toolkit resources

2022
Jan. 2022

Collect community input on concepts for toolkit resources

Through Feb. 2022.

Mar. 2022

Conduct user feedback and testing on toolkit resources

Through Apr. 2022.

Mar. 2022

Create first version of toolkit resources

Through Apr. 2022.

Mar. 2022

Begin web development for the dashboard

Apr. 2022

Develop ideas for second set of toolkit resources

Through Summer 2023.

May. 2022

Distribute survey and collect responses

May. 2022

Refine toolkit resources

Through Sep. 2022.

Oct. 2022

Community call to release new toolkit resources and gather input next set of resources

Continue to refine ideas through Summer 2023.

Nov. 2022

Data analysis and drafting of survey report

Through Spring 2023.

2023
Jan. 2023

Run user testing on dashboard for further refinement

Through Winter 2023.

2024
Jan. 2024

Reformscape launch

Visit Reformscape >

Mar. 2024

Survey paper released

Rushforth A, De Rijcke S. Practicing responsible research assessment: Qualitative study of faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure assessments in the United States. Research Evaluation: rvae007. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvae007

Arcadia logo

Project TARA is supported by Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge.

Get involved!

Have an idea for the toolkit?

Please describe your idea for a resource to support the development of fair and responsible research assessment practices.
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Recent events

Press coverage

How to make academic hiring fair: database lists innovative policies January 2024

How academia is exploring new approaches for evaluating researchers June 2023

The scientific workplace in 2021 December 2021

Dashboard will track hiring and promotion criteria August 2021

DORA receives grant to accelerate research assessment reform September 2021

Project TARA team

  • Stephen Curry, DORA
  • Zen Faulkes, DORA
  • Haley Hazlett, DORA
  • Sarah de Rijcke, Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University
  • Alex Rushforth, Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University
  • Marta Sienkiewicz, Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University
  • Ruth Schmidt, Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 4Site Studios
  • First Create The Media

Dashboard Advisory Group

Terms of Reference

  • Fernanda Beigel, CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina
  • Tanita Casci, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Kelly Cobey, University of Ottawa Heart Institute and the DORA Steering Committee, Canada
  • Chris Erdmann, American Geophysical Union, United States
  • Kim Huijpen, Universities of The Netherlands, Netherlands
  • Christopher Long, Michigan State University, United States
  • Andiswa Mfengu, University of Cape Town, South Africa
  • Tanja Strøm, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
  • Lin Zhang, Wuhan University, China