How can we incentivise the right things?

The aims of this workshop were to: 

• Identify the links between Open Research, quality and reliability on one hand, and recognition and incentives on the other 

• Prioritise the practices and behaviours that Imperial researchers and staff think matter for good-quality, reliable research  

• Identify the systems, processes and infrastructure that can help foster "excellence” (in research) as an Imperial value and move Imperial beyond publish-or-perish culture. 

Session one: DORA: Recognition, Incentives and Assessment

Kim Huijpen, Programme Manager, Recognition and Rewards, at Universities of the Netherlands, introduced the mismatch between what we deem important in academic work and where we reward researchers for. She discussed the 2019 position paper ‘Room for Everyone’s Talent’ in the context of important international developments like the 2013 San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the Coalition on Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) and the 2022 Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment. She explained why moving away from journal-based metrics for evaluating research is crucial for promoting quality. Finally, Kim presented the Netherlands’ Recognition and Rewards Vision as a model for the future. 

Session two: What Matters for Quality and Reliability?

Alex Freeman, Founder of the Octopus research platform and former Director of the Winton Centre for Public Understanding of Risk, discussed the activities and outputs that might be important for shifting research culture away from publish-orperish. Journal articles are only one of several types of research output, while publishing them is just one type of contribution to research. But too often this is all that matters for a researcher’s career. What other examples of research outputs and contributions could we recognise and incentivise, and how can we improve inclusion, quality and reliability by broadening our understanding of what matters? Alex introduced Octopus and similar initiatives and discussed how they aim to do just that.

Session three: What Is “Excellence” and Can We Measure It?

Stephen Curry, Consul, Imperial College London, discussed excellence as an Imperial value in the context of its research and international collaborations. If we work out what research outputs and contributions matter for quality and reliability, then what does excellence in those outputs and contributions look like? Is it possible to measure it, e.g. use of metrics? What are the risks and trade-offs of metrics?