🎉 Yesterday, we wrapped up another successful edition of our course Bibliometric Data Sources and Indicators at CWTS, @universiteitleiden University.

💬 It was a great week of discussions on bibliometric indicators, open research information, new data sources like #OpenAlex, #preprinting, and the challenges of transparent #ResearchAssessment.

🙏 Thank you to all participants for their active engagement and to our lecturers Clara Calero Medina, @vtraag Traag and @LudoWaltman!

One thing we are working on in the ATRIUM project is the assessment of non-traditional research outputs in the Humanities. I have written a blogpost to explain why, what and how: https://dariahopen.hypotheses.org/2113 #openmethods #ATRIUMproject #overlayjournals #openaccess #researchassessment cc @dariaheu

Assessing the Societal Impact of Academic Research With Artificial Intelligence (AI): A Scoping Review of Business School Scholarship as a ‘Force for Good’

https://microblogging.infodocs.eu/2025/06/13/assessing-the-societal-impact-of-academic-research-with-artificial-intelligence-ai-a-scoping-review-of-business-school-scholarship-as-a-force-for-good/

#ArtificialIntelligence #DavidSteingard #KathleenRodenburg #metrics #ResearchAssessment #ResearchImpact #ScientificCommunication #SocietalImp

On Scholarly Communication

My marking duties being over, it’s time once more to take up the cudgels against the academic publishing racket, at least in a small way, by sharing an article from the European University Association called Reclaiming academic ownership of the scholarly communication system. I recommend you read the entire piece, which is an extended briefing note. It can be downloaded as a PDF here. One of the points it makes very strongly is how much the Open Access movement has been hijacked by commercial publishers.

I will share a couple of sections with you here. First, some background information about Open Access Publishing:

Now I’ll cut to the chase and share the key points from the end.

1. Accelerate the reform of research assessment. Most of the issues in the current publishing system are rooted in how academic staff are evaluated. Research assessment reform is essential to break the cycle of dependence on high-impact commercial journals and related metrics. Universities should consider broadening the criteria used in academic evaluation, to ensure that recognition goes beyond research to include teaching, innovation, leadership, open science practices, and societal outreach. While institutional, regulatory, and cultural factors can either facilitate or hinder reforms, many universities are already taking the initiative and implementing changes (even in countries with centrally regulated academic career assessment processes).
2. Strengthen institutional publishing services and infrastructures. A robust, sustainable and interoperable scholarly publishing ecosystem requires each university to properly curate their research contributions and outputs, through institutional or shared infrastructure and services (e.g. repositories, publishing platforms, and CRIS systems). Strengthening these institutional capacities may require reallocating resources and cooperation (see points 3 and 4). This should also apply to the various institutional departments (libraries, research management, etc.) and staff needed to support academics and researchers.
3. Cooperate and coordinate with other universities, research performing and funding organisations, as well as researchers’ associations and learned societies. The challenges of scholarly publishing are systemic, and no single institution can tackle them alone. Universities should align their efforts with other academic organisations, funders and research institutions. Cooperation and coordination can be valuable for advocacy, policy development and implementation, as well as for shared or “horizontal” services and infrastructures. Cooperation can also take place within regional, national, European and global frameworks.
4. Critically evaluate expenditure on commercial research publishing and information products and services. As new not-for-profit publishing alternatives emerge and consolidate, universities should regularly evaluate their expenditure on commercial products and services, including journal publication costs and research databases. By promoting cost transparency and cost efficiency, institutions can make informed decisions that support innovation and reinvest funds into institutional publishing services and infrastructure (see point 2). Where feasible, preference should be given to not-for-profit solutions, ultimately reducing costs and ensuring sustainability.
5. Support and promote the use of rights retention by the university community. Rights retention should be used to regain academic ownership of scholarly communication. Universities should actively advocate for legislative reforms that allow researchers to retain their rights and freely share their research. They should also educate and inform their faculty and researchers of the importance of rights retention and provide legal support. Where legally feasible, institutions should implement and enforce rights retention policies to ensure that publicly funded research remains publicly accessible.
6. Ensure researcher engagement. Any transition toward a more equitable and sustainable scholarly communication system must involve the academic community. Universities should raise awareness of the systemic issues in scholarly publishing and create spaces for dialogue, reflection, and co-design to discuss how to address them at institutional level. Engaging researchers early and consistently can help shift perceptions, foster a sense of shared responsibility and build support for longterm cultural change.

I endorse all of these, and have written about some of them before (e.g. here) but I would add to the first that universities should actively lobby their governments to change research assessment methods which in many cases are causing an immense waste of public money by outsourcing research assessment to entities, such as Scopus, who are mere fronts for the academic publishing industry.

#AcademicJournalRacket #EuropeanUniversityAssociation #OpenAccessPublishing #ResearchAssessment #ScholarlyCommunication

⏰ Coming up next week: #GraspOS Community of Practice meeting on the Opportunities and Challenges of Assessing Open Science.

The discussion will dive into the technical and social challenges of assessing Open Science in a fair an inclusive manner, and explore the opportunities that research assessment reform movements may present to include Open Science.

📅 11 June 2025, 14:00-15:00 CEST
🎙️ @lizziegadd (@INORMS_REG and @CoARAssessment) and Natalia Manola (@OpenAIRE)

➡️ https://graspos.eu/community-of-practice-on-open-science-and-responsible-research-assessment

#ResearchAssessment #ReformingRA #OpenScience

Calling researchers, practitioners & innovators!

There’s still time to submit your poster presentation for the GraspOS Conference: Opening Research Assessment.

We’re looking for original, relevant, and thought-provoking contributions that support more open, inclusive and responsible research evaluation systems.

*Deadline: July 5th

-Submission form & guidelines: https://graspos.eu/conference

#OpenScience #GraspOS #SciencePolicy #ResearchAssessment #OSmetrics #CallForPosters

Last week, just after the #WOOC2025, the GraspOS Consortium met in sunny Bologna, hosted by our partners from the University of Bologna.
The plenary meeting featured productive discussions to prepare for the next steps and final phase of the project.
#ReformingRA #ResearchAssessment #OpenInfrastructures

@OpenAIRE @inria
@cwts
@opencitations
@utrechtuniversity @BarcelonaDORI @INORMS_REG

📪 You have mail, the May newsletter is out! This month, you will find news about:

💫 The Call for Posters for the #GraspOS Final Conference 'Opening Research Assessment' is now open! Submit your contribution by 5th July. The criteria and guidelines are available here: https://graspos.eu/graspos-conference-2025
💎 Connecting the Dots: an interview on Recognising & Rewarding Open Science in Research Assessment. https://graspos.eu/connecting-the-dots-cross-project-conversations
💎 The @CoARAssessment WG #OI4RRA published the Conceptual Architecture for the Implementation of a Responsible Research Assessment Framework Built on Open Infrastructures. https://graspos.eu/oi4rra-conceptual-architecture
💎 New outputs from the Research on Research Institute for next-generation research assessment. https://researchonresearch.org/next-generation-research-assessment/
💎 Join the Workshop on Open Citations and Open Scholarly Metadata 2025 online, starting in two days! @opencitations @BarcelonaDORI https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSelGEfZ4gpe2_Ps55OpMmVa82xxMoYiOzSq6AmZlHK421-csA/viewform?usp=send_form

And more inside ➡️ https://mailchi.mp/5f9dd675c5d5/graspos-newsletter-12747846
Subscribe now ➡️ graspos.eu/newsletters

#OpenScience #ResearchAssessment #OpenInfrastructures #CoARA #EOSC #WOOC2025

How do countries assess research? With spreadsheets, committees, metrics - and increasingly, soul-searching. A new @RoRInstitute study compares 13 national systems and maps a quiet shift: from 'publish or perish' to 'be useful, be fair':

👉 https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29041787.v4

No silver bullets, just a very thoughtful typology.

#ResearchAssessment #OpenScience #CoARA #ResearchPolicy #Evaluation

💫 The Call for Poster Contributions is now Open!
We are pleased to invite submissions for poster presentations at the Final Conference of the GraspOS Project 'Opening Research Assessment', taking place on 12–13 November 2025 in Pisa, Italy.
🔎 We welcome contributions that engage with the Conference’s central themes and topics. Authors should submit their proposals in the form of extended abstracts by July 5th 2025 (AoE).
Posters will be selected through an open, transparent peer-review process.

➡️ Details and submission: https://graspos.eu/graspos-conference-2025

#OpeningRA #OpenScience #ResearchAssessment #GraspOS #CoARA #DORA #BarcelonaDORI

@cwts @opencitations @utrechtuniversity @OpenAIRE @inria

💬 A new episode of Connecting the Dots is out!
In this fourth episode, Inge van der Weijden, Robert Darby , and Tiina Sipola, respectively representing the Dutch national coordination of Open Science in Responsible Research Assessment initiatives, the Open and Responsible Researcher Reward and Recognition Project (OR4), and GraspOS discuss the recognition and rewarding of Open Science practices in the assessment of research and researchers.
➡️ Read the interview: https://graspos.eu/connecting-the-dots-recognising-and-rewarding-open-science-practices-in-research-er-assessment

Our series of interviews 'Connecting the Dots: Cross-Project Conversations' aims to highlight the collaborative efforts of multiple projects to advance Open Science and responsible research assessment. Read the collection of interviews: https://graspos.eu/connecting-the-dots-cross-project-conversations

#OpenScience #ResearchAssessment #ReformingRA
@cwts

⏰ You still have time to register for our webinar this Thursday about Diamond #OpenAcccess, Open Infrastructures and how they interact with #ResearchAssessment reform, with insights from #GraspOS, #CRAFT-OA & #DIAMAS projects

➡️ Register here: https://graspos.eu/training-material

🔎 Researcher Profiles to foster #OpenScience: take a look at the GraspOS poster presented by Giulia Malaguarnera at the INORMS Congress in Madrid.
➡️ https://zenodo.org/records/15421941

#INORMS2025 #ResearchAssessment

@INORMS_REG @OpenAIRE

Being a "Highly Cited Researcher" has gone from a sign of having impact as a researcher to a potential indicator of misconduct.

"Manipulations have been so obvious and large that, in 2024, over 2,000 researchers were removed from a HCR list containing some 6,600 names." - Lauranne Chaignon

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2025/05/13/is-the-list-of-highly-cited-researchers-losing-credibility/

#ResearchImpact #HighlyCitedResearchers #Bibliometrics #Scientometrics #ResearchAssessment #Citations #CitationManipulation #CitationScience #ScientificMisconduct #ImpactOfSocialSciences

… for evaluating and publicizing scientific research, including the formal modeling of competing approaches."
#OpenAccess #AdademicPublishing #ResearchAssessment

🔔 The @CoARAssessment Working Group Open Infrastructures for Responsible Research Assessment #OI4RRA has published a new output: “Conceptual Architecture for the Implementation of a Responsible Research Assessment Framework Built on Open Infrastructures”, available on Zenodo https://zenodo.org/records/15297695

The document presents a tiered conceptual architecture to guide the implementation of responsible research assessment based on open, interoperable infrastructures, and provides both strategic and technical guidance to support fair, inclusive, and transparent evaluation practices aligned with CoARA principles.

💻 Two identical webinars will present the key elements of the work and provide an open space for discussion with the broader community, with contributions from Natalia Manola, and @vergoulis.
Friday, 23 May 2025, 11:00–12:00 CEST - https://zoom.us/meeting/register/gXvg6OKMS8O7RwKVRmFXZw#/registration
Monday, 26 May 2025, 15:00–16:00 CEST - https://zoom.us/meeting/register/fO33_ZWGTaePaCgiZzoO5A#/registration

#ResearchAssessment #OpenScience #EOSC #OpenInfrastructure @OpenAIRE

📅 Mark your calendars! The last #GraspOS Community of Practice meeting will take place on 11 June, from 14:00-15:00 CEST.

In this final session, @lizziegadd (#INORMS and @CoARAssessment) and Natalia Manola (@OpenAIRE) will discuss the opportunities and challenges of assessing #OpenScience.

What are the technical and social challenges of assessing Open Science in a fair an inclusive manner, and what are the opportunities that research assessment reform movements may present to include Open Science?

Join us, register now ➡️ https://graspos.eu/community-of-practice-on-open-science-and-responsible-research-assessment

#ResearchAssessment #ReformingRA #CoARA #EOSC

New on the #OSTrails Pilot Interviews!

Dive into our latest OSTrails Thematic Pilot spotlight featuring the Social Sciences pilot!

This month, we sit down with Alen Vodopijevec, Head of IT at CESSDA-ERIC to explore how the pilot is putting Open Science principles into action and pushing forward innovation in research assessment.

-Read the brand new interview and get inspired: https://ostrails.eu/thematic-pilot-interview-social-sciences

#OpenScience #OSTrails #ResearchAssessment #SocialSciences #CESSDA

5️⃣ Helmholtz Centers have signed @DORAssessment working to improve transparency and quality in evaluations.

🗓️ On occasion of DORA’s 12th birthday, launch of Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment: https://sfdora.org/2025/04/14/launch-of-a-practical-guide-to-implementing-responsible-research-assessment/

ℹ️ The Helmholtz Open Science Office, now a @CoARAssessment signatory, actively contributes to CoARA's working groups. Since March 2025, @mathijsvleugel coordinates the CoARA German National Chapter.

#ResearchAssessment (lmf)

📣 #ResearchAssessment is changing — and @helmholtz is helping lead the way.

➡️ Helmholtz’s new task group, coordinated by @HelmholtzOpenScienceOffice supports better ways to promote and recognize research quality: https://os.helmholtz.de/open-science-in-helmholtz/arbeitskreis-open-science/task-group-research-assessment/

#OpenScience #ResponsibleResearch