We signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
General Recommendation
1. Do not use journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, as a
surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, to assess an
individual scientist’s contributions, or in hiring, promotion, or funding decisions.
For funding agencies
2. Be explicit about the criteria used in evaluating the scientific productivity of grant
applicants and clearly highlight, especially for early-stage investigators, that the
scientific content of a paper is much more important than publication metrics or
the identity of the journal in which it was published.
3. For the purposes of research assessment, consider the value and impact of all
research outputs (including datasets and software) in addition to research
publications, and consider a broad range of impact measures including
qualitative indicators of research impact, such as influence on policy and
practice.
For institutions
4. Be explicit about the criteria used to reach hiring, tenure, and promotion
decisions, clearly highlighting, especially for early-stage investigators, that the
scientific content of a paper is much more important than publication metrics or
the identity of the journal in which it was published.
5. For the purposes of research assessment, consider the value and impact of all
research outputs (including datasets and software) in addition to research
publications, and consider a broad range of impact measures including
qualitative indicators of research impact, such as influence on policy and
practice.
For publishers
6. Greatly reduce emphasis on the journal impact factor as a promotional tool,
ideally by ceasing to promote the impact factor or by presenting the metric in the
context of a variety of journal-based metrics (e.g., 5-year impact factor,
EigenFactor [8], SCImago [9], h-index, editorial and publication times, etc.) that
provide a richer view of journal performance.
7. Make available a range of article-level metrics to encourage a shift toward
assessment based on the scientific content of an article rather than publication
metrics of the journal in which it was published.
8. Encourage responsible authorship practices and the provision of information
about the specific contributions of each author.
9. Whether a journal is open-access or subscription-based, remove all reuse
limitations on reference lists in research articles and make them available under
the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication [10].
10. Remove or reduce the constraints on the number of references in research
articles, and, where appropriate, mandate the citation of primary literature in
favor of reviews in order to give credit to the group(s) who first reported a finding.
For organizations that supply metrics
11. Be open and transparent by providing data and methods used to calculate all
metrics.
12. Provide the data under a licence that allows unrestricted reuse, and provide
computational access to data, where possible.
13. Be clear that inappropriate manipulation of metrics will not be tolerated; be
explicit about what constitutes inappropriate manipulation and what measures
will be taken to combat this.
14. Account for the variation in article types (e.g., reviews versus research articles),
and in different subject areas when metrics are used, aggregated, or compared.
For researchers
15. When involved in committees making decisions about funding, hiring, tenure, or
promotion, make assessments based on scientific content rather than publication
metrics.
16. Wherever appropriate, cite primary literature in which observations are first
reported rather than reviews in order to give credit where credit is due.
17. Use a range of article metrics and indicators on personal/supporting statements,
as evidence of the impact of individual published articles and other research
outputs [11].
18. Challenge research assessment practices that rely inappropriately on Journal
Impact Factors and promote and teach best practice that focuses on the value
and influence of specific research outputs.
Full text: http://www.ascb.org/dora/