PINDARE

Between September 2022 and October 2023, all institutions in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation signed the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment of the coalition CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment).

This coalition was created to enable organisations to collaborate, exchange knowledge and learn from each other. CoARA currently gathers more than 700 signatories (research organisations, funders, evaluation authorities, companies, etc.). They intend to work together on reforming the methods and processes used to evaluate research, researchers and research organisations.

CoARA’s vision is to enable better recognition of the diverse contributions made by researchers throughout their scientific careers. During their professional paths, they will produce much more than just scientific publications, and recognising this diversity by maximising the quality and impact of research is the primary objective of the reform. The emphasis is on taking qualitative criteria into account in research evaluation, for which peer review is essential, supported by the responsible use of quantitative indicators.

Ten pillars constitute the CoARA agreement published in July 2022. The first four pillars are fundamental commitments:

Commitment 1 : Recognise the diversity of contributions to, and careers in, research in accordance with the needs and nature of the research.
Commitment 2 : Base research assessment primarily on qualitative evaluation for which peer review is central, supported by responsible use of quantitative indicators.
Commitment 3 : Abandon inappropriate uses in research assessment of journal- and publication-based metrics, in particular inappropriate uses of Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and h-index.
Commitment 4 : Avoid the use of rankings of research organisations in research assessment.
Commitment 5 : Commit resources to reforming research assessment as is needed to achieve the organisational changes committed to.
Commitment 6 : Review and develop research assessment criteria, tools and processes.
Commitment 7 : Raise awareness of research assessment reform and provide transparent communication, guidance, and training on assessment criteria and processes as well as their use.
Commitment 8 : Exchange practices and experiences to enable mutual learning within and beyond the Coalition.
Commitment 9 : Communicate progress made on adherence to the Principles and implementation of the Commitments.
Commitment 10 : Evaluate practices, criteria and tools based on solid evidence and the state-of-the-art in research on research, and make data openly available for evidence gathering and research.

All signatories share the same vision, but CoARA is above all an action-oriented initiative. Indeed, all signatories are committed to publishing an action plan responding to the 10 pillars of the agreement with varying degrees of priority.

To track the progress of the work being done on this reform, a poster has been created to communicate to the entire scientific community what is being implemented within the five universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, as well as elsewhere.