DORA: Re-thinking and re-engineering what we value in research by Prof Stephen Curry

About the speaker

Stephen Curry is a Professor of Structural Biology at Imperial College London where he also serves as the Assistant Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. For many years he has been a writer and campaigner on a range of scientific issues including open access, research assessment, research funding and science policy. He is currently chair of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

About the talk

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is a campaigning initiative to improve the ways that we evaluate research and researchers. It aims particularly to call out the problematic nature of the over-reliance on aggregate metrics such as the journal impact factor in assessment processes. Such metrics have enduring appeal because they appear to offer the simplicity and objectivity of numerical analyses. I will discuss the work DORA is doing to promote and develop alternative and more holistic processes of research assessment – work that is synergistic with broader moves to advance open scholarship and enduring issues of equality, diversity and inclusion.