The roadmap describes three areas of focus that we will pursue to promote practical and robust approaches to research assessment:  1) increase awareness for the need to develop credible alternatives to the inappropriate use of metrics; 2) actively promote tools and processes that embody best practices in research assessment; and 3) extend DORA’s influence into new geographic regions and scholarly disciplines.

In addition, the roadmap details the tangible progress we hope to make over the next two years. Yes, we want to gather more signatures, especially from stakeholder organizations, but we also aim to make significant progress in curating a collection of good practices that can be used as a resource for organizations looking to making their own changes. Some excellent progress has been made, which others can now build upon.

The roadmap has been worked up by the new steering committee, which was formed in 2017 to oversee DORA’s strategy and activities. The committee is made up of dedicated individuals who represent key stakeholders in research assessment including funders, publishers, scientific societies, and researchers.

Your feedback on the roadmap is welcome. DORA has to be a community-led project if it is to succeed. Please reach out to our Community Manager, Dr. Anna Hatch (ahatch@sfdora.org) with any ideas or comments that you have. If you would like to stay-up-to-date with the latest news from DORA, sign up to receive news updates here.

DORA Roadmap: A two-year strategic plan for advancing global research assessment reform at the institutional, national, and funder level

Stephen Curry is a professor and assistant provost at Imperial College London. He is also the chair of the DORA steering committee.

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1. We will increase awareness of the need to develop credible alternatives to the inappropriate uses of metrics in research assessment.
2. We will research and promote tools and processes that facilitate best practice in research assessment.
3. We will extend the reach and impact of DORA’s work across scholarly disciplines and in new areas of the world.

Our vision is to advance practical and robust approaches to research assessment globally  and across all scholarly disciplines

We will take a variety of actions in support of each of these strategic goals and monitor progress on all fronts. In particular we hope to see:

• Additional signatures to the Declaration
• Growing awareness and support for DORA around the world and across disciplines
• Good practices coming to light through the website
• An increase in attention in the social and news media

Some of the specific actions we aim to take include the following.

1. Increase awareness

1.1  Recruit signatories.
1.2  Showcase the implementation of good practices and how policy changes have improved research assessment in hiring, promotion, and funding decisions.
1.3  Participate in scientific and scholarly meetings.
1.4  Capitalize on social (and other) media activity.
1.5  Host a meeting on research assessment.

2. Promote tools and processes

2.1  Establish partnerships with like-minded organizations.
2.2  Encourage organizations to publicize their efforts to implement DORA principles.
2.3  Host discussions  with the researcher community.
2.4  Develop and/or increase visibility for tools that enhance good practices.

3. Extend the disciplinary and geographic reach of DORA

3.1  Create regional nodes to leverage local experience in adapting best practice in research assessment to different parts of the world.
3.2  Proactively engage additional scholarly disciplines.

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