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 the content of a paper as much more important than publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which it is published
- We will use quantitative metrics to inform and support, but not to supplant peer review and expert judgement
- Our research assessment and evaluation processes will have clear, strategic objectives
- We will account for variation by disciplinary field in terms of research outputs and citation practices
- We will ensure data sources are accurate, reliable, robust and transparent
- Where we use research metrics in our assessment and evaluation processes, we will not rely upon one single metric in isolation
- We will not employ research metrics that reflect or introduce bias (e.g. by gender) in any research assessment or evaluation process
- We will champion the use of responsible metrics at Portsmouth
The University also published a three part companion series of papers detailing its approach to research assessment:
- Relating to the use of research metrics in research evaluation and assessment
- Why the University adopted the eight Principles, and how the Principles are reflected in our current policies and processes.
- How the University will further embed the eight Principles into its operating practices.
These papers are publicly available under “Responsible Metrics – DORA.”