What really matters in research? What practices and behaviours lead to the highest quality? How can we recognise researchers who put quality first?

‘Beyond Open Research: Understanding What Matters for Quality and Reliability’ is a College-wide, Research England-funded project, aiming to foster a research culture that recognises and incentivises quality and reliability.

We have been engaging researchers, staff and the public in a series of workshops, to understand the challenges and opportunities of openness and what that might look like here at Imperial. We’ve seen that, among researchers and public alike, there is a desire for openness, transparency and quality.

But how can we make openness the norm in a world of dysfunctional incentives? The main thing, and sometimes the only thing, researchers are measured against is the number of journal articles they publish in so-called “high-impact” journals. We know that this is a poor measure of the quality of research outputs and doesn’t come close to representing the full scope of anyone’s contribution to research, academia and society.

So come and get your voice heard at our fourth and final workshop, ‘What Matters? Recognising and Incentivising Quality’, 9:30-15:30 on Thursday 11 July, in person at South Kensington. We want to engage with more colleagues across Imperial to identify ways to move beyond the journal impact factor as a measure of the worth of Imperial’s research and researchers. This is how we will start to incentivise the practices that lead to quality and reliability. 

Do you believe there is a way out of the culture of publish-or-perish? Then click here to apply for a free spot, as spaces are limited. Join us and discuss what matters for quality and reliability. The deadline to apply is Sunday 7 July 2024 at 12 noon.

We have a brilliant line-up of speakers, including Imperial’s very own Professor Stephen Curry, Baroness Freeman (Dr Alex Freeman), who developed the Octopus research platform, and Kim Huijpen, from Universities of the Netherlands.

We want to hear from researchers (from PhD students to professors) across faculties and departments, as well as professional and technical staff. We want to promote underrepresented voices, and we particularly encourage you to apply even if you don’t think you are familiar with the debate around research culture. Dysfunctional incentives affect every discipline, department and career stage, so it’s very important that we understand diverse perspectives.
 
We really hope you will join us, because we have a rare opportunity to do something that has never been tried before at institutional level, that can make a lasting impact on research practice, and that allows Imperial to again show the global leadership we are renowned for. Let’s break out of the toxic culture of publish-or-perish!

Image credit: Thomas Angus (Imperial College London)