The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) recognizes the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated. The declaration was developed in 2012 during the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco. It has become a worldwide initiative covering all scholarly disciplines and all key stakeholders including funders, publishers, professional societies, institutions, and researchers. We encourage all individuals and organizations who are interested in developing and promoting best practice in the assessment of scholarly research to sign DORA.

DORA’s governance procedures (PDF) are openly available, and our current priorities are outlined in the 2023 three-year Strategic Plan (PDF).

Mission

DORA’s mission is to advance practical and robust approaches to research assessment globally and across all scholarly disciplines.

Objectives

Raise awareness
To call attention to new tools and processes in research assessment and the responsible use of metrics that align with core academic values and promote consistency and transparency in decision-making

Facilitate implementation
To aid development of new policies and practices for hiring, promotion, and funding decisions

Catalyze change
To spread research assessment reform broadly by working across scholarly disciplines and globally

Improve equity
To call for broader representation of researchers in the design of research assessment practices that directly address the structural inequalities in academia

Approaches

Community engagement
We publish blogs, organize community interviews, and give presentations on research assessment.

Resource development
We curate collections of good practices, create slide presentations to help individuals initiate local conversations about change, and publish commentaries to provide additional guidance for stakeholders.

Partnership
We work with other organizations that share our desire to reform research assessment.

Advising
We advise academic institutions and funders seeking to review and revise their research assessment policies and practices.

Convening
We gather diverse stakeholders at conference sessions, workshops, and meetings to work towards systems change.

National Wellbeing Service Ltd

The National Wellbeing Service is a signatory of DORA.