San Francisco
Declaration on Research
Assessment (DORA)
WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT MEANS.
What is DORA?
UCalgary recently signed the declaration on March 10th, joining more than
2,000 organizations around the world.
DORA’s goal is to improve the ways in which researchers and the outputs of
scholarly research are evaluated.
DORA’s vision is to advance practical and robust approaches to research
assessment globally and across all scholarly disciplines.
Organizations sign DORA to publicly acknowledge their commitment to
improve research by strengthening research assessment
DORA Recommendations Themes
01
02
03
Eliminate the use of
journal-based metrics,
such as Journal Impact
Factors, in funding,
appointment, and
promotion
considerations
Assess research on its
own merits rather than
on the journal in which
the research is
published
Capitalize on the
opportunities provided by
online publication (such as
relaxing unnecessary limits
on word count, figures, and
references in articles, and
exploring new indicators of
significance and impact)
What is means in general for Innovate
Calgary
Innovate Calgary should avoid using journal-based metrics as contributing
factors when hiring staff, promoting staff, or granting fellowships.
The intellectual property group should avoid using journal-based metrics as
contributing factors when assessing the invention disclosures or patents.
UCeed should avoid using journal-based metrics as contributing factors when
assessing funding opportunities or making funding decisions.
What is means for Innovate Calgary,
as a funding agency
Innovate Calgary should be explicit about criteria used if ever using scientific
productivity as a means of evaluating fellowship applicants
UCeed should be explicit about criteria used if ever using scientific productivity as a
means of evaluating funding applicants.
Innovate Calgary, the intellectual property group, and UCeed should consider a
broad range of impact measures if ever conducting any form of research
assessment.
What is means for Innovate Calgary,
as an organization that supplies metrics
All Innovate Calgary groups should be open and transparent with data and
methods used to calculate metrics, where possible (E.g. AUTM survey).
All Innovate Calgary groups should provide data under a license that allows
unrestricted reuse, where possible (E.g. AUTM survey).
Innovate Calgary should consider creating an overlying policy or section within
a policy that specifies any expectations when interacting with metrics.
What Other Organizations Have Done
University College
London - Academic
Careers Framework
• The new framework can
be used by researchers
looking to build a case
for promotion, and it is
also a resource for those
assessing promotion
cases. The framework
seeks to ensure that
personal impact is
evaluated consistently
across the university. To
do that, it establishes
core and specialized
criteria and activities
across disciplines and
grades
University of Nottingham
Ningbo China Implementation Task
Force for DORA
• Makes recommendations
to the Research and
Knowledge Exchange
Committee and
Management Board to
ensure responsible
research assessment
indicators are reflected
in relevant university
processes and activities,
and to raise awareness
of DORA and its
principles.
Ghent University - Career
and Evaluation Policy for
Professorial Staff
• Under the new policy,
the evaluation process
includes (among others)
narrative self-reflections.
Professors are asked to
reflect on their most
significant achievements
and to describe their
ambitions for the next
five years. They do so
within four pillars: (i)
research, (ii) teaching,
(iii) institution and
societal engagement,
and (iv) leadership and
people management
Open University of
Catalonia - Assessment
Criteria for Career Progression
and Recruitment Practices
• The new assessment
criteria aims to
transform evaluation
methods using more
qualitative, transparent,
fair, inclusive and socially
relevant formulas that
take into consideration
not only research quality,
but also the societal
impact of our research.
Universities Norway Research Assessment
Working Group
• The framework will
provide structured
career assessment
guidelines, modeled in
part after the European
Commission’s Open
Science Career
Assessment Matrix (OSCAM). It uses similar
categories to those in
OS-CAM: research
output, research process,
educational competency,
leadership and service,
societal interaction and
impact, and other
experience