Dutch public knowledge institutions and research funders published a position paper ‘Room for Everyone’s Talent‘ rethinking their academic reward and recognition systems to:
- Enable the diversification and vitalization of career paths
- Acknowledge the independence and individual qualities and ambitions of academics as well as recognizing team performances
- Emphasize quality of work over quantitative results (such as number of publications)
- Encourage all aspects of open science
- Encourage high quality academic leadership
The paper outlines specific actions the organizations are taking, including training assessment committees, increasing emphasis on collaborative contributions, no longer requesting bibliometric indicators, and more. Universities involved will also create a committee to initiate a campus-wide discussion about the adoption of the new rewards and recognition system.
The participating organizations include the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Dutch Research Council (NWO), and Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw).