Resource Library

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

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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…
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.
Case studies
DORA-produced
In response to an institutional culture that had become overly reliant on quantitative indicators for research assessment, and from a desire to promote a less competitive academic environment with a renewed focus on collaboration, Ghent University developed a new conceptual framework for research evaluation that is guided by eight principles.
Journal articles
DORA-produced
For: Journals and publishers
Editorial decisions influence research assessment. This article provides 10 concrete recommendations that journals and publishers can take to help improve how research is assessed.
Case studies
DORA-produced
In 2015 the UK’s Open University (OU) published “An Open Research University” a book outlining the outputs from a three-year project to create and implement an evidence-based strategy to embed the principles and practices of engagement with new processes for research assessment within the university. In keeping with the OU’s existing commitment to open research…
Case studies
DORA-produced
The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) shifted the focus of their assessment criteria and practices for recruitment and career progression away from journal-based outputs to a much broader discussion of achievements. Due to the centralization of career progression for faculty nationally, the new assessment criteria apply to postdoctoral fellows and UOC research staff, not professorial staff.
Case studiesPosition papers
DORA-produced
For: FundersResearch institutes
This report and the accompanying online repository bring together and analyze case studies in institutional change for academic career assessment. Gathered by DORA, together with the European University Association and SPARC Europe, the case studies serve as inspiration for universities and other actors looking to improve their policies and practices.
Case studies
DORA-produced
Finland is among the first countries to have developed national recommendations on responsible research evaluation. In 2020, a task force formed by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies published the “Good Practice in Researcher Evaluation: Recommendation for Responsible Evaluation of a Researcher in Finland.”
Advocacy resourcesTools
DORA-produced
For: Research institutes
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. Building Blocks for Impact is a one-pager that outlines and illustrates the wide variety of academic achievements and outcomes that could be considered “impactful”. This model visualizes “impact” on…
Advocacy resourcesTools
DORA-produced
For: Research institutes
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. Debiasing Committee Composition and Deliberative Processes is a one-page brief that identifies strategies for including more perspectives and reducing biases in the evaluation processes for hiring, promotion, tenure, and…
Advocacy resourcesTools
DORA-produced
Ideas for Action outlines five common myths about research evaluation to help universities better understand barriers to change and provides analogous examples to illustrate how these myths exist inside and outside of academia.
Advocacy resourcesTools
DORA-produced
Unintended Cognitive and Systems Biases identifies seven personal biases that can influence hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions.
Advocacy resourcesTools
DORA-produced
For: Research institutes
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. With thanks to volunteers in the DORA community, SPACE is also available in Catalan and Spanish. See below. Improving research and scholarship assessment practices requires the ability to…
Case studies
DORA-produced
Tampere University is a new Finnish institution, formed in 2019 from the merger of the University of Tampere and the Tampere University of Technology. As a result of the merger, Tampere recognized it had a unique opportunity to redesign its policies to implement a fair and responsible model for faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure.
Position papers
DORA-produced
For: Funders
In partnership with the Research on Research Institute (RoRI), CWTS-Leiden, and National Research Foundation of South Africa, DORA published a position paper providing a state-of-play of responsible research assessment (RRA) practices from funders.
Case studies
DORA-produced
In a position paper published in November 2019, the Netherlands’ public knowledge institutions and research funders voiced a common ambition to modernize the national recognition and rewards system.1 The purpose is to move toward more holistic evaluation practices in the Netherlands, where the focus is on academic career and research quality assessment. Although the consortium…
Case studies
DORA-produced
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental life sciences research organization operating at six sites across five locations in Europe. As Europe’s only intergovernmental organization for life science research, EMBL believes it has a responsibility to be a leader and innovator in the way research in molecular biology is performed and assessed. Since…
Case studies
DORA-produced
The Latin American Forum for Research Assessment (FOLEC) is an initiative of the international Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO). CLACSO created FOLEC to support knowledge sharing on research assessment reform between CLACSO research member institutions and regional policymakers. This initiative was necessary because CLACSO research member institutions are located in 52 countries, primarily…
Case studies
DORA-produced
As a part of a broader action plan on Open Science, a national consortium called Universities Norway formed a research assessment working group in the fall of 2019 with the objective to build a national career assessment framework.
Case studies
DORA-produced
University College London (UCL) has developed several new responsible research development and assessment policies: the Academic Careers Framework (2018) and the Responsible Use of Bibliometrics at UCL (2020). These policies were prompted by internal motivations, which included a wish to create a culture that embraces Open Science practices at the university.
Case studies
DORA-produced
University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht changed its approach to academic assessment through the development and implementation of a new evaluation framework. The purpose of the framework is to move beyond bibliometrics-based evaluations; it formally requires qualitative indicators and a descriptive portfolio when making hiring and promotion decisions.
Case studies
DORA-produced
The University of Bath (United Kingdom) released “Principles of research assessment and management” in 2017. The Principles were designed to “encapsulate current good practice and to act as a guide for future activities” across all disciplines and indices at the university.
Case studies
DORA-produced
The University of Nottingham is a global university, with campuses in the United Kingdom, the People’s Republic of China, and Malaysia. In 2019, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) signed DORA and committed to the implementation of DORA principles through the establishment of an Implementation Task Force.
Case studies
DORA-produced
The University of Zurich (UZH) is Switzerland’s largest university. It was founded in 1833 and has around 30000 enrolled students as well as almost 10000 academic and professional staff. With its 7 faculties and over 100 institutes, UZH boasts the most comprehensive range of academic study programs in the country, covering a wide spectrum of…