We are pleased to announce that together with CWTS (Clifford Tatum), OpenAIRE (Natalia Manola) will co-chair the new COARA Working Group on Open Infrastructures for Responsible Research Assessment. 

The objective: The primary goal of the group is to facilitate the transition of institutions from using proprietary infrastructure and research information to adopting open and interoperable alternatives. This transition is intended to support the implementation of responsible research assessment practises. This effort will include an in-depth review of various research outputs and open science practises, while also acknowledging and accommodating the diverse nature of the global research community.

Why is this important:  Open research information is absolutely necessary for responsible research assessment, which requires data, tools, and infrastructures that guarantee transparency, reproducibility, and geographical-discipline-output coverage in the data and indicators. The viability of these systems, their ability to interact with one another, their transparency, and their community-based accountability are essential to the reform COARA aspires to bring.

Expected outcomes: We begin this mission with ambitious goals, as indicated below. However, we are confident that through the valuable input from the community, we will be able to mould tangible and attainable outcomes.

• Create a shared understanding of Open Infrastructures (OI) and a learning environment for stakeholders to co-design RRA workflows and data exchange routines using existing OIs. 
• Facilitate principles for data exchange between connected infrastructures, such as data sources and assessment tools/services, using existing interoperability guidelines.
• Transform lessons learned into practical guides for institutions and OI4RRA service providers to grow the Community of Practise.
• Provide OI4RRA guidelines for institutions to use when choosing data sources and service providers.
• Establish guidelines for transparency of assessment tools, indicators, and data, ensuring the research community controls the data and indicators.
• Model governance for inclusive and equitable participation.

How we will take it forward: Using our work in the Horizon Europe GraspOS project as a springboard, we intend to initiate a dialogue with key stakeholders regarding how we can jointly identify the elements, how they are connected, and how they are used. Specifically, we intend to:

• Enrol and engage a Community of Practice (CoP) of both open infrastructure providers and Responsible Research Assessment stakeholders. The role of this CoP will include working together to develop practical solutions for optimal use of existing open infrastructures.
• Carry out systematic analysis of longer-term scenarios for moving toward open, interoperable, sustainable, community-governed OI4RRA.
• Conduct a scenario analysis, as the basis for an OI4RRA implementation plan, focusing on agreed principles , governance models that ensure inclusive and equitable participation, and sustainability models informed by a detailed analysis of the expected costs.
• Submit implementation recommendations to CoARA members and the CoARA board.

How to join/contribute: If you are a member of COARA, consider joining us as we will be starting work in mid October (Contact Natalia Manola or Giulia Malaguernara).

Read related information at this GraspOS article and find more information about the Community of Practice the project is building around the topic.