“Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at RFOs: Informational Briefs from the Practical Guide” is a set of three tailored resources designed to support key audiences of the Guide to engage with RRA and catalyze action. These briefs are inspired by and complement the full Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Funding Organizations.
The three briefs are:
- Informational Brief on the Landscape:
Offers a high-level overview of RRA, its relevance, and its connection to broader movements such as open science and research integrity. Designed to build understanding, spark conversations, and inspire action at funding organizations. - Informational Brief for Leadership:
Provides strategic insights for senior leaders on the organizations benefits of RRA and suggests potential actions. - Informational Brief for RRA Task Forces:
Offers practical guidance for funding program teams who are often responsible for the policies and processes that influence and enable research assessment. Includes suggestions of how and where in the research funding process RRA-alignment can be introduced.
Each brief is designed to be flexible and adaptable to different organizational contexts, disciplinary cultures, and strategic priorities. Together, they aim to foster shared understanding and coordinated action toward more inclusive, transparent, and values-aligned research assessment practices.
We have uploaded to Zenodo three separate files, each corresponding to a specific audience, to support targeted use and dissemination.
We have also produced Quick-Reference Sheets from the Practical Guide you may find at https://sfdora.org/resource/practical-guide-for-rfos-quick-reference-sheets/.
The RFO Practical Guide has been developed by DORA in collaboration with the Global Research Council RRA Working Group and Science Europe, and has engaged funders worldwide in five co-creation sessions. We are grateful to all who have contributed to it.
The RFO Practical Guide is a sister volume of a similar volume for Research Performing Organizations, which has been created as part of Project TARA, supported by Arcadia.
These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial CC BY-NC. They may be freely used, copied, and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the source is acknowledged.
Cite as: DORA San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment. (2026). Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at RFOs: Informational Briefs from the Practical Guide. DORA. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19615794
This is part of DORA’s toolkit of resources to support institutions that are improving their research and researcher assessment policies and practices. Find other resources in the toolkit here.