Meeting of CNU 67 (French National Commission for Universities: section 67 "Biologie des populations & Ecologie")

23 November 2022

Side events

• SE2 • 17:30 > 18:30 • Meeting of CNU 67 (French National Commission for Universities: section 67 "Biologie des populations & Ecologie") • Verlaine A
Changing our relation to publishing in the light of the San Francisco declaration on research assessment

The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA, https://sfdora.org/about-dora/), which has been signed by quite a few French, German, Swiss and Austrian research organizations since its development 10 years ago, has highlighted ways to improve the process of research assessment. Among all the recommendations featured in DORA, a serious emphasis was given on the publication process, particularly "the need to assess research on its own merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which the research is published" and "the need to capitalize on the opportunities provided by online publication". In the meantime, academia has had to face the rise of predatory publishing, i.e. online journals charging onerous article-processing charges (APC) for very quick and dirty reviewing and easy publication.
The purpose of this discussion, spurred by the work of the 67th section of the CNU (French National University Council, in charge of many assessments regarding professors and lecturers), is to collectively exchange on a few topics linked to publication and research assessment:
* the issue of predatory publishing and its interaction with research assessment;
* acknowledging preprints in research assessment;
* the various new means of publishing and their pros and cons;
* how to improve academia through better research assessment and better publishing practices;
* behaviour of researchers as authors vs. researchers as evaluators: can we cure our collective schizophrenia?

Discussion/debate in English