Research evaluation reform

Principles for general conditions

• Comply with ethical and integrity standards and practices. 
• Safeguard scientific freedom.
• Respect the autonomy of research organizations.
• Guarantee the independence and transparency of data, infrastructures and criteria used to evaluate research and determine its impact.

Principles for research criteria and processes

Quality and Impact Principles

• Focusing research criteria on quality, which involves rewarding originality of ideas, as well as professional conduct and results that go beyond the state of the art. It also implies recognizing a variety of research missions, methodologies, verifiable and reproducible results, data exchange and open collaboration. It also states that evaluation should be based on qualitative judgments for which peer review is fundamental, supported by quantitative indicators, used responsibly and when appropriate. 
• Recognize contributions that represent an advance in knowledge, as well as the (potential) impact of their results, which may be of a very different nature (scientific, technological, economic and/or social).

Diversity, Inclusion and Collaboration

• Recognize the diversity of research activities and practices, of results, encouraging the early exchange of knowledge and data and collaboration open to very different actors. 
•  Use evaluation criteria and processes adapted to the different profiles on which they are applied: according to the characteristics of each discipline, according to the different stages in the research career, according to multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches, etc. 
• Value diversity of roles and careers in research; as well as team science and collaboration.
• Ensure gender equality, equal opportunities and inclusion. 

1. Recognize the diversity of contributions, as well as of roles and careers in research, depending on the objectives and nature of the research.

2. To base the assessment of research, to a greater extent, on qualitative methods, recovering the fundamental weight of peer review and supporting these judgments in quantitative methods, making responsible use of these indicators when appropriate. The efforts required by this approach should be duly recognized in the careers of the professionals involved.

3. Abandon the inappropriate use of metrics based on journals and publications; in particular, the inappropriate use of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and the H Index.

4. Avoid the use of international rankings of research organizations, since their metrics are inadequate to evaluate researchers.

5. Allocate the necessary resources to carry out this research assessment reform, thus enabling us to achieve the organizational changes that have been committed.

6. Revise the current evaluation criteria, tools and processes and develop new ones that are relevant, i.e., adapted to the different contexts to which they will be applied. These are the units and institutions, as well as the projects and researchers, and always in accordance with the established principles. To this end, all the agents involved must work in close collaboration.

7. Raise awareness of the reform through communication, guidance and training on the criteria and processes designed, as well as on their use, to all the agents involved.

8. Encourage the exchange of practices and experiences to allow mutual learning, within and outside the Coalition. To avoid fragmentation, to favor coherence and thus, the mobility of researchers.

9. Communicate progress made in adhering to the Principles and implementing the Commitments. Self-reflection, follow-up, sharing successes and challenges; thus facilitating collective progress.

10. Evaluate the practices, criteria and tools developed, based on sound evidence and making publicly available the data used to do so.