Recognising Open Research Data in Research Assessment: Overview of Practices and Challenges

Amongst academic stakeholders including funders and research managers, there is consensus that research assessment needs to be reformed. The recognition of open research data (ORD) plays a major role in these discussions. Against that background, this literature review is the first deliverable of the swissuniversities project Recognise Open Research Data, recORD. The aim of recORD is to take a step forward to recommend how ORD practices should be recognised in research assessment in Swiss higher educational institutions (HEIs).

The literature review aims at identifying content and key issues regarding the assessment of ORD practices nationally and internationally. It starts from the observation that research assessment needs to be reformed as they are currently biased towards scientific publications. Internationally, discussions and projects thereon have emerged. To contextualise recORD and this literature review, we first describe international and Swiss initiatives for reforming research assessment and how they include ORD recognition. The remainder of the review follows an innovative methodology as it identifies first core values in responsible research assessment, and second existing frameworks, to thirdly derive propositions to keep in mind when developing concrete ORD-specific research assessment recommendations. In a final section, the review presents further readings and useful weblinks on the recognition of ORD in research assessment.

The literature review will inform the next steps of the project, notably three thematic workshops on research proposals, researchers’ recruitment and career development, and institutional assessment respectively. At the end of the project, a final report will provide practical recommendations on how to better recognise ORD in research assessment across Switzerland.