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Glossary
- Academic system refers to the complex, deeply interconnected network of individuals, institutions, funders, publishers, national bodies, and scholarly societies, along with policies and procedures, that shapes research and where changes or problems in one area often affect the rest of the system.
- Systems problem is a dynamic challenge involving multiple interconnected actors with diverse interests, where issues in one part of the academic system can have ripple effects throughout. These problems cannot be solved by addressing one actor or process alone, because they result from the combined behaviors, incentives, and constraints of many interconnected actors, principles and practices.
- Research Performing Organization (RPO) is an institution, such as a university or research center, where research is conducted and where researchers are trained, employed, and supported throughout their careers.
- Research Funding Organization (RFO) is an organization that provides financial support for research, whose policies heavily influence the types of research that are rewarded and assessed within the academic system.
- Narrative CV is an alternative to traditional academic CVs that allows researchers to present their achievements, skills, and contributions through a descriptive, contextualized format, emphasizing quality and significance over mere quantity to provide a more holistic view of their profile and impact.
Suggested Reading List
Learn about global initiatives and frameworks for advancing responsible research assessment
- The UK Reproducibility Network OR4 project and its toolkit
- This toolkit is designed to help universities and other research-performing organisations implement effective recognition and reward for open research through researcher assessment practices.
- Link: https://recognition.ukrn-openresearch.ac.uk/
- Latin American Forum for Research Assessment (FOLEC), Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO)
- A regional initiative that mobilizes RRA in alignment with open science principles. It includes CLACSO’s Declaration of Principles, a series of tools for evaluation systems transformation and various reports and publications.
- Link: https://www.clacso.org/manifiesto-de-bogota-hacia-una-ciencia-abierta-democratica-y-socialmente-relevante-en-america-latina-y-el-caribe/
- Chapter 4 of “A Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Performing Organizations” (Allen, Barbour, Cobey, Faulkes, Hazlett, Lawrence, Lima, Massah, & Schmidt, 2025)
- Chapter 4 outlines initiatives into areas like leadership and guidance on open science (e.g., UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, HELIOS Open, Barcelona Declaration), driving research assessment reform (e.g., San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), SCOPE Framework), encouraging a holistic and inclusive view of research (e.g., Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT)), and enabling evidence-based policy and research integrity (e.g., The Hong Kong Principles).
- Link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15000683
- “Reimagining academic assessment: stories of innovation and change” (Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), European University Association (EUA) and SPARC Europe)
- This case study repository outlines examples from around the world of universities and national consortia that are undertaking institutional change to improve academic career assessment.
- Link: https://sfdora.org/dora-case-studies/
- A Global Observatory of Responsible Research Assessment (AGORRA), Research on Research Institutes (RoRI)
- This project aims to generate comparative data, evidence and analysis to support and accelerate RRA. It includes the RoRI Atlas of Assessment, a database of national assessment systems from around the world.
- Link: https://researchonresearch.org/project/agorra/