The prevalence of metrics in the assessment of research, researchers and research institutions has lead to the development of several initiatives that seek to encourage the responsible use of metrics. Responsible use of metrics principles recognise that while there is a place for quantitative measures in assessment, they shouldn’t replace qualitative assessment.  This chapter provides an overview of developments in the responsible metrics space.

Getting Started

There are a number of responsible use of metrics initiatives, including:

• DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment is a set of recommendations, for funders, publishers, institutions, researchers and metrics suppliers, developed during the Annual Meeting of The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in San Francisco, on December 16, 2012.
• The Metric Tide, published in 2015, which is the report of the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics in Research Assessment and Management.  It outlines five principles for the responsible use of metrics in research assessment.
• The Leiden Manifesto, named after the conference where it was developed and published Nature in 2015.  It posits 10 principles to guide research evaluation.
• The Hong Kong Principles for Assessing Researchers were developed at 6th World Conference on Research Integrity and published in PLOS Biology in 2020.

Consider: What are the similarities and differences in the principles/guidelines of the above responsible use of metrics initiatives?

Learn More

As responsible use of metrics principles have been more widely acknowledged and adopted by the research community, publishers, funders and research analytics providers have also integrated them into their processes.

Publishers

Publishers such as Springer Nature, Emerald and Public Library of Science have signed DORA.  You can find a list of organisations and individuals who have signed up to DORA, here.

Research Analytics Providers

Elsevier (Scopus and SciVal) announced its endorsement of the Leiden Manifesto in July 2020 (Elsevier’s press release) while Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science, InCites, Journal Citation Reports and Essential Science Indicators) provides guidance on responsible use of metrics in their training material.  Digital Science,the parent company of Dimensions and Altmetric Explorer is a signatory of DORA.

Funders

A number of funders from different countries have also integrated responsible use of metrics into their guidelines, including the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia.  Their webpage Publication assessment in track record refers to both The Leiden Manifesto and DORA, of which they are a signatory. The National Institute of Health Research and the Wellcome Trust also provide guidance on responsible research assessment, with the Wellcome Trust being a DORA signatory.

Challenge Me

Research institutions, such as universities,  are also integrating responsible use of metrics into their assessment practices.  The Bibliomagician provides a list of responsible metrics statements on their website.  The Resource Library on the DORA website provides resources such as examples of good practices in research assessment for institutions.

Exercise: Read at least one example of good practice from the DORA website and one responsible metrics statements from the Bibliomagician site.

Consider:  Does your institution have a responsible metrics statement or policy? What do you think are important considerations for institutions when deciding to implement responsible metrics?