A collection of materials to facilitate the development of responsible research and researcher assessment policies and practices.
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Good practicesPosition papers
For: Research institutes
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…
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Research institutes
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 practicesTools
For: FundersResearch institutes
CIRAD developed the ImpresS method to assess the environmental and societal impact its research.
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Professional societiesResearch institutes
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).
Good practices
For: Research institutes
Ghent University published a vision statement for evaluating research based on eight principles agreed on by the University’s Board of Governors.
Good practices
For: Research institutes
In keeping with HHMI’s commitment to basic scientific discovery, the Institute employs outstanding researchers for renewable seven-year terms as HHMI Investigators.
Good practicesPosition papersTools
For: FundersResearch institutes
The IDRC in Canada developed a tool called Research Quality Plus (RQ+) to assess applied and translational research.
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Professional societiesResearch institutes
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) published a statement of recommendations concerning the appropriate means of assessment of varied research outputs. In the statement, the term “corpus” refers to the body of language documentation scholarship that is deposited in a language archive. The statement notes that “unlike traditional publications, documentation is not ordinarily peer-reviewed. Thus,…
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Professional societiesResearch institutes
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) published a statement on their commitment to Open Scholarship and recommendations for the fair review of Open Scholarship in hiring, tenure, promotion, and awards. The statement defines Open Scholarship and outlines how LSA intends to apply principles of Open Scholarship: “The LSA encourages scholars, departments, and evaluation committees to…
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Research institutes
The governance policies of The University of Portsmouth provide information about its standards and regulations for institutional good practice to ensure and improve research quality and reliability at the institution. The policies recognize the University of Portsmouth is a signatory of DORA and lay out eight Portsmouth Principles governing Research Evaluation and Assessment: We view…
Good practices
For: Research institutes
The Open Research Working Group on behalf of the Research Committee developed a set of five principles to guide the use of bibliometric indicators in research assessment, which include expertise, diversity, data, integrity, and transparency.
Good practices
For: Research institutes
The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) signed DORA in December 2018 as a fundamental element of its Open Knowledge Action Plan.
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Research institutes
University College London (UCL) released its Academic Careers Framework, which provides information related to its promotion processes.
Good practices
For: Research institutes
In order to create a culture around research assessment that is free from metrics including Journal Impact Factor, the university held a series of meetings to facilitate discussions with researchers on the best ways to create change.
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Research institutes
The Office for Faculty Equity & Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley provides support for faculty search committees to evaluate candidate contributions to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including guidance for search committee composition, application requirements, rating criteria, and more.
Good practicesPolicies and guidance
For: Research institutes
The University of California, Irvine developed guidance “Identifying Faculty Contributions to Collaborative Scholarship” to help faculty describe and assess team science.
Good practices
For: Research institutes
The Faculty Promotions Committee at the School of Medicine advises candidates against using journal-based metrics in their promotion or tenure dossiers, as these metrics do not accurately capture the significance of specific research contributions.
Good practicesPosition papers
For: Research institutes
The cover letter plays a significant role in the initial assessment of candidates for assistant faculty positions in the Department of Cell Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and is used to reduce some of the biases associated with CVs, such as research pedigree or whether candidates have published in brand name journals.
Good practices
For: Research institutes
In 2020, the Yale Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department (MB&B) tested anonymized applications for tenure-track Assistant Professor positions. These applications omit names of people, places, funding agencies, and journals. This change was brought about due to findings that names can act as cues for unintended biases like ingroup favoritism. MB&B cited research by Olof Åslund…