The project "Development of a reference model for reporting in scientific institutions using DORA" (ERRED), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), aims to develop an alternative model for evaluating scientific performance. It focuses on bringing the quality of scientific publications to the fore and overcoming metrics-based approaches in order to enable a transparent and comprehensible assessment of performance.

General information

The number of scientific publications has been rising sharply for some time, while at the same time the documentation of scientific output is becoming increasingly important in the course of benchmarking and funding allocation. For researchers, but also for scientific institutions, statistical evaluations are therefore becoming increasingly important.

The ERRED project aims to advance the discussion on the scholar-led and responsible assessment of research performance in Germany. As a driving force, the project promotes the practical implementation of the requirements of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which aim to focus on the quality of scientific publications when measuring performance and to dispense with conventional quantitative indicators such as the journal impact factor.

The project thus supports the positions of the DFG paper "Wissenschaftliches Publizieren als Grundlage und Gestaltungsfeld der Wissenschaftsbewertung", which called for a cultural change in science in May 2022 so that the content is given greater consideration in research evaluation than the place of publication. The results of the project can provide important impetus for the development of this change and act as a driver for a future sustainable organizational structure.

Aim of the project

The aim is to develop a transferable reference model for reporting in scientific institutions based on DORA. Based on existing reporting procedures, a set of indicators will be developed that works beyond journal-based metrics and takes an open and transparent look at the breadth of research performance. In addition to textual publications, for example, research data and research software are also taken into account.

As a use case, the implementation of the reference model at KIT is being tested, for example in the KITopen repository. Findings from the application at KIT will be taken into account in the development of the reference model. The results of existing working groups will also be incorporated into the project.

Promotion of open science

In the spirit of open data, we will test how the data to be collected can be published openly and transparently using open licenses. Existing standards, such as the core data set for research, will be included and reviewed.
The project thus serves as a pioneer for open science initiatives in Germany and aims to integrate the principles of open science into the practice of research evaluation. By creating a transparent and comprehensible model that focuses on the quality of scientific publications, it contributes to the promotion of open scientific infrastructures.