UK research councils sign responsible research assessment pledge

All seven of the UK’s research councils have signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (Dora) and promised to use metrics ‘responsibly’ when assessing the quality of research. Dora opposes the use of journal metrics – specifically impact factors – by funders and institutions as a way to measure research quality and impact. It was set up in 2013 by the American Society for Cell Biology, and has since been signed my more than 12,000 researchers and 800 organisations.