Research Assessment Standards

As signatory of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information, and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), we are committed to advancing responsible, fair, and inclusive research assessment practices. These initiatives prioritize a research ecosystem that values transparency, diversity, and collaboration.

We know that navigating the transition to open research is important to the scientific and scholarly community, and we help make that transition as seamless as possible with the tools and intelligence they need. We value our dialogue with the research community enormously, and we actively engage with various open research initiatives. Read this article in Science Editor on How Journals and Publishers Can Help to Reform Research Assessment.

Declaration on Research Assessment

The Declaration on Research Assessment aims to advance practical and robust approaches to research evaluation, moving beyond traditional metrics such as journal impact factors. By endorsing DORA, we are taking a stand against the overreliance on these metrics and promoting a more holistic assessment of research quality and impact.

Why We Signed DORA
As part of our commitment to fair and transparent research assessment, we are implementing several key practices to ensure that our evaluation processes align with its principles:

• Revised Evaluation Criteria: Our submission and review processes now prioritize the scientific quality and integrity of research over the reputation of the journal or its impact factor. We encourage our reviewers to assess manuscripts based on methodological rigor, reproducibility, and the significance of the research findings.
• Diversified Metrics: We use a broad range of metrics to evaluate research impact. In addition to traditional citation metrics, we consider article-level metrics such as downloads and altmetrics, and we value qualitative measures like peer review evaluations and expert opinions. We also recognize and highlight diverse research outputs, including datasets and software.
• Transparency in Processes: We are committed to transparency in our editorial and review processes. Clear criteria for article acceptance and rejection are communicated to authors and reviewers, ensuring a fair and consistent evaluation process.
• Support for Open Research Practices: We encourage our authors to make their data, methods, and other research outputs openly available. This supports reproducibility, enhances the visibility of research, and aligns with our commitment to open science.

Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment

The Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment aims to advance research assessment beyond traditional metrics, such as journal impact factors, and to foster a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to evaluating research quality and impact.

Why We Joined CoARA

Joining CoARA represents our dedication to promoting responsible and inclusive research evaluation practices. By embracing a diverse range of metrics and emphasizing the societal impacts of research, we aim to foster a research ecosystem that values innovation, transparency, and collaboration. Together with CoARA, we are committed to advancing research assessment practices that empower researchers and enhance the credibility and impact of scholarly research worldwide.

• Promoting Fairness and Diversity: We prioritize fairness, transparency, and inclusivity in our research assessment processes. We advocate for the evaluation of research based on its content, rigor, and broader societal impacts rather than the venue of publication.
• Supporting Responsible Metrics: We endorse the use of a diverse range of indicators and metrics to assess research impact. This includes article-level metrics, qualitative assessments, and recognition of diverse research outputs such as datasets and software.
• Advancing Open Science: We encourage open science practices, including the sharing of research data, methods, and other outputs to enhance transparency and reproducibility.

Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information

The Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information is an initiative developed by a team of research information specialists, aimed at democratizing access to research information. This includes bibliographic metadata, funding details, and impact data, which are often inaccessible due to proprietary infrastructures.

The research information landscape requires fundamental change. The signatories of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information commit to taking a lead in transforming the way research information is used and produced. Openness of information about the conduct and communication of research must be the new norm.

Too often, decision making in science is based on closed research information. Research information is locked inside proprietary infrastructures, run by for-profit providers that impose severe restrictions on the use and reuse of the information.

Definition of Research Information

By research information we mean information (sometimes referred to as metadata) relating to the conduct and communication of research. This includes, but is not limited to, (1) bibliographic metadata such as titles, abstracts, references, author data, affiliation data, and data on publication venues, (2) metadata on research software, research data, samples, and instruments, (3) information on funding and grants, and (4) information on organizations and research contributors. Research information is located in systems such as bibliographic databases, software archives, data repositories, and current research information systems.

Errors, gaps, and biases in closed research information are difficult to expose and even more difficult to fix. Indicators and analytics derived from this information lack transparency and reproducibility. Decisions about the careers of researchers, about the future of research organizations, and ultimately about the way science serves the whole of humanity, depend on these black-box indicators and analytics.

Why we Signed the Barcelona Declaration Initiative

The initiative aims to promote transparency, accessibility, and sharing of research information. It emphasizes the importance of open access to research data, methods, and publications to foster collaboration and innovation.

The declaration advocates for:

• Open Access to Publications: Ensuring that scholarly publications are freely accessible to everyone.
• Open Data: Promoting the sharing of research data in a way that is accessible, understandable, and reusable.
• Open Methods: Encouraging the publication of research methods and protocols to enhance reproducibility and transparency.

As signatory of the Barcelona Declaration initiative, we commit to taking a lead in reforming the landscape and transforming our practices with regard to open access research. To this end, we commit to:

• Make openness the default for the research information we use and produce
• Work with services and systems that support and enable open research information
• Support the sustainability of infrastructures for open research information
• Support collective action to accelerate the transition to openness of research information.

Budapest Open Access Initiative

The Budapest Open Access Initiative is a public statement of principles relating to open access to the research literature, which was released to the public on February 14, 2002. It arose from a conference convened in Budapest by the Open Society Institute to promote open access which at that time was also known as Free Online Scholarship. This small gathering of individuals has been recognised as one of the major defining events of the open access movement.

The BOAI defines open access as:

• Immediate Free Access: Making research articles available without charge on the internet.
• Permission to Use: Allowing users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles.

The initiative’s goals include:

• Self-Archiving: Encouraging authors to deposit a copy of their research articles in an open access repository.
• Open Access Journals: Supporting the creation and use of journals that do not charge subscription fees and are freely accessible online.

As such, and to quote the text of the declaration:

“Removing access barriers to this literature will accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.”

We aim to empower researchers and enhance the credibility and impact of scholarly research worldwide. Join us in shaping a future where research assessment truly reflects the essence and impact of scholarly work, driving positive change in academia and beyond.