DORA

I am an individual signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). The declaration was developed in 2012 to encourage better ways of assessing research outputs and the contributions of researchers.

Its central principle is that research should be assessed on the quality and substance of the work itself, rather than by using the reputation or citation metrics of the journal in which it appears as a proxy for quality. In particular, DORA argues against using journal-based measures such as the Journal Impact Factor in decisions about funding, appointment or promotion.

What this means in practice

• Assess individual research outputs on their own merits rather than on the prestige or metrics of the publication venue.
• Recognise a broad range of scholarly outputs, including data, software and other research products alongside articles.
• Use explicit and transparent assessment criteria in funding, recruitment, appointment and promotion.
• Use quantitative indicators carefully and in context, alongside qualitative evidence about the value and influence of research.
• Encourage responsible authorship, clear contributor attribution and appropriate recognition of primary research.

I regard these principles as compatible with rigorous quantitative evaluation: metrics can be informative, but they should support judgement rather than replace it.

Read the full declaration