OPUS Deliverable 3.2 Baseline Audit of Metrics to Test in the Pilots

The OPUS project is developing coordination and support measures for organisations to reform research assessment with a focus on recognising and rewarding researchers for Open Science. The main aim of the project is to develop a framework for researcher assessment, consisting of indicators/ metrics with a focus on Open Science and corresponding interventions for organisations to implement the framework, which will be tested in pilots and refined in consultation with the research community.

This report is deliverable D3.2 of the OPUS project on Baseline Audit of Metrics to Test in the Pilots. The report builds on D3.1 on Indicators and Metrics to Test in the Pilots, which proposed a first draft of a researcher assessment framework (RAF) to assess researchers and recognise and reward Open Science in researcher assessment. The report also builds on D2.1 on Interventions to Test in the Pilots, which proposed a first draft of related interventions to support implementation of the RAF at research-performing organisations (RPOs) and research-funding organisations (RFOs). The report presents the indicators/metrics selected by each pilot organisation in the OPUS project and their corresponding baseline and targets for the pilots. The report is closely aligned with D2.2 on Baseline Audit of Interventions to Test in the Pilots, which similarly presents the interventions selected by each of the pilot organisations and their corresponding baseline and targets for the pilots.

The report has been developed in collaboration with the organisations running pilots in the OPUS project as listed in Table 1.1. The three RPOs (UNL, UCY, and UNIRI) and two RFOs (UEFISCDI and RCL) have selected and tailored indicators/metrics from D3.1 and corresponding interventions from D2.1 to test in each of their pilots. The pilot period in the OPUS project runs for 18 months (M) from January 2024 until June 2025. The progress of the pilots will be monitored and supported with an interim evaluation at M9 and final evaluation at M18. This report presents for each pilot the (1) scope of the pilot (2) selection of indicators/metrics for the pilot (3) baseline of selected indicators/metrics at M0 (4) targets for selected indicators/metrics at M9 (5) targets for selected indicators/metrics at M18.

Table 1.1: Pilot Organisations in the OPUS Project

The report structure is based on the pilots and begins with a description of the methodology to carry out the baseline audit and set the targets for the selected indicators/metrics and interventions for the pilots in Section 2. The report next presents each of the pilots together with their baseline and targets for their selected indicators/metrics at M9 and M18 for UNL in Section 3, UCY in Section 4, UNIRI in in Section 5, UEFISCDI in Section 6, and RCL in Section 7. The report lastly offers some conclusions and proposes next steps for the OPUS project in Section 8. It should be noted hereby that the report does not go into detail on the implementation of selected indicators/metrics and interventions in the pilots as this will be presented in action plans describing the pilots by each of the pilot organisations.