Resource Library

A collection of materials to facilitate the development of responsible research and researcher assessment policies and practices.

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Journal articles
For: Research institutes
2020
Understanding the hiring dynamics of the academic job market is an important step for institutions wishing to enhance the transparency of their hiring process and attract talent. To establish the profile and perceptions of academic job seekers, the authors collected survey data from 317 early-career researchers who were in the process of applying for academic…
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Research institutes
2020
In support of the Dutch Recognition and Rewards Programme, Leiden University published a position paper “Academia in Motion: Recognition & Rewards at Leiden University” in 2021. In 2020, Leiden University’s Executive Board established a Recognition & Rewards steering committee made up of staff from a variety of positions and roles. The goals of the Recognition…
Journal articles
For: Research institutes
2020
To improve research assessment practices in academic institutions, it is critical to understand the institutional metrics used to assess research quality for promotion. This article examines traditional and non-traditional criteria used to assess biomedical scientists for promotion and tenure in 92 randomly selected international institutions. The study found that the evaluation of scientists emphasizes traditional…
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Research institutes
2021
In this article, Jonathan Grant outlines nine cases that highlight examples of new academic incentives at multiple levels (e.g., system, institution, and individual level). These include: System-Level Examples like the United Kingdom Research Excellence Framework (REF), which reviews the quality of research conducted at universities in the United Kingdom, including societal impact and research environment.…
Good practices
For: Professional societies
2017
Three national academies issued a statement on good practice in the evaluation of researchers and research programs in October of 2017. The statement recognized the need for efficient, fair, and robust researcher evaluation, especially as the size of the research community continues to increase.
Case studiesGood practices
For: Research institutes
2023
The ARRC team at the University of Cambridge is running a controlled trial to investigate the effects of using narrative CVs in postdoc recruitment. Narrative CVs aim to avoid placing a narrow emphasis on lists of achievements such as authored publications, awarded grants, etc. Using a narrative CV might allow researchers to highlight their wider…
Journal articles
For: FundersProfessional societiesResearch institutes
2020
A survey was conducted by Noémie Aubert Bonn and Wim Pinxten to understand how Flemish researchers work and how they would rate the relevance of specific research assessment indicators in career advancement and advancing science. Survey results suggested that current indicators used to assess career advancement (e.g., indicators of prestige like high journal impact factor…
Good practices
For: Professional societies
2019
The idea for the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment began at the 2012 ASCB Annual Meeting. As one of the initial DORA signatories, the ASCB does not promote its publications by the Journal Impact Factor.
Good practices
For: Funders
Applicants understand how funding decisions are made, because the Agency openly shares a general summary of its decision-making process on their website written in English and French.
Tools
ASAPbio (Accelerating Science and Publication in Biology) tracks preprint policies and practices at journals, funders, and universities.
Journal articles
For: Research institutes
2018
Six principles for hiring, promotion, and tenure were developed at a one-day workshop in Washington DC in January 2017 to address incentives and rewards in research assessment.
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Funders
2018
The NHMRC guide for peer review instructs assessors not to rely on the Journal Impact Factor when making judgments.
Advocacy resourcesTools
DORA-produced
For: Funders
This is part of DORA’s toolkit of resources to support academic institutions that are improving their policies and practices. Find the other resources in the toolkit here.   Balanced, broad, responsible: A practical guide for research evaluators is a short, informative video that is accompanied by a one-page brief. The video and document are meant…
Good practices
For: Funders
2018
CRUK recognizes value from all outputs of research, including publications. CRUK has modified its grant application process to ask candidates to describe the significance and impact of 3-5 key research achievements, which can include preprints, training delivered, contribution to consortia, patents, and sharing of key datasets, software, novel assays and reagents, and research publications.
Tools
The Center for Open Science has a collection of open science policies at universities and examples of job announcements that mention open science. The Open Science Framework (OSF) also has a project that archives job offers that require or suggest an open science statement from applicants.
Good practicesTools
For: FundersResearch institutes
2021
CIRAD developed the ImpresS method to assess the environmental and societal impact its research.
Advocacy resources
DORA-produced
The badges for our signatories show support for DORA, raise awareness about research assessment, and serve as a conversation starter with individuals or organizations that have not heard about DORA yet.
First slide of presentation, with DORA logo over "Improving research assessment", link to sfdora.org, and "@DORAssessment on most social media platforms".
Advocacy resources
DORA-produced
We know that slide presentations are one of the primary means of academic communication. To help you talk about research assessment, we created three presentations that are available for download.
Good practices
For: Funders
2014
The application process for EMBO Long-Term Fellowships emphasizes the most important outcomes and impact of the applicant’s work rather than where it is published and specifically states that journal impact factors should not be provided.
Good practices
For: Funders
2022
The fundamental activity of the ERC is to provide attractive, long-term funding to support Principal Investigators and their research teams to pursue ground-breaking, high-gain/high-risk research. The ERC puts particular emphasis on the frontiers of science and scholarship. In particular, it encourages proposals of a multi- or interdisciplinary nature which cross the boundaries between different fields…
Position papers
For: Professional societiesResearch institutes
2018
The 2018 European University Association (EUA) roadmap was approved by the EUA Council at its meeting on 4 April 2018, in Zurich (Switzerland). This roadmap addresses the assessment of research outcomes, researchers and research units and organizations (laboratories, research centers and universities). The main objective of the roadmap is to raise awareness and support European…
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Funders
2017
Evaluation of Research Careers fully Acknowledging Open Science Practices, a report released by the European Commission in 2017, recognizes the emerging Open Science movement creates an opportunity to develop an evaluation system for hiring and promotion that is focused on the equal treatment of applicants.
Policies and guidancePosition papers
For: Research institutes
2023
This work-in-progress paper outlines actions taken to implement the University Research Assessment Project led by the Center for Interuniversity Development (CINDA). CINDA is a specialist Latin American and European network that includes universities from over 15 countries. CINDA members manage inter-university collaborations, generate and disseminate knowledge, and contribute to the development of higher education and university management…
Tools
For: Journals and publishersResearch institutes
2022
Preprints are an essential tool for accelerating scientific discovery as they provide early and free access to new findings. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of preprints have surged on a worldwide level and its availability allows discussion and assessment to be carried over to a wider community. However public participation is very low and…
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Professional societiesResearch institutes
2017
The Federation released a report in 2017 to support the ongoing conversation in Canada about the assessment of research impact in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).