Pretty proud of this, I have to say.
“Harnessing the Metric Tide: indicators, infrastructures & priorities for UK responsible research assessment.” By
@Stephen_Curry
@jameswilsdon
& myself with literature review by
@naubertbonn
If we care about responsible research assessment, we need to rethink how university rankings are constructed and used. My thoughts published in
@nature
today.
So today’s job is to convince 350 University leaders that university rankings might not* be what the HE sector needs. Wish me luck.
#EUA2023AnnualConf
*definitely isn’t.
It's just struck me how much of being a woman involves hiding.
From concealing tampons up your sleeve; having your menopause conversations in the corridor; to miscarrying silently at your desk.
Just want to say that I see you.
#InternationalWomensDay
Can’t repeat this often enough. Every country with OA policies driving APC-Gold-OA as the norm needs to think long and hard about the EDI implications. And no, charity is not the solution.
Most scientists from the Global South are not able to afford Open Access (OA). An OA article can equal 3 or 4 of our monthly salaries or the full yearly amount of one of our grants. This discriminatory situation creates a double-standard in science dissemination.
How about we change our
#REF
definitions of excellence from “world-leading” to “world-changing”. And from “internationally excellent” to “world-benefitting”?
Sunday afternoon fun. Take the square root of your total citation count and divide by 2 and you'll pretty much end up with your H-index. Thanks to Ian Rowlands for this little gem, further proving that the H-index is just a function of total cites & as such is totally redundant.
Today we're pleased to introduce the Journal Citation Indicator: a new, field-normalized measurement of journal citation impact that can be easily interpreted and compared across disciplines. Coming soon with this year's JCR release - read about it here:
Hear hear. We need a university linking not a university ranking. We are much better visualised as a network than a rank. We have to prize connectivity over hierarchy. A joining of hands rather than a fight for supremacy.
There is something painfully ironic about
@timeshighered
pointing the finger at the “never-ending rollercoaster of assessment” resulting from
#REF
and
#TEF
, when they are themselves responsible for the never-ending ferris wheel of the
@THEworldunirank
A car crash indeed: UK universities fear collision of
#REF
and subject
#TEF
. Institutions face ‘never-ending rollercoaster’ of assessment via
@timeshighered
And there you have it: the first responsible research assessment agreement to explicitly speak against the use of university rankings in researcher assessment. Groundbreaking work from
@euatweets
@ScienceEurope
@KarenStroobants
👏🙌
Am reviewing REF staff circumstances today. Just had my second sob in the ladies. It's not just the circumstances it's the paltry output reduction they are then entitled to. Such an insult. Tears of outrage mixed with tears of sorrow.
Seeing a flurry of tweets about successful promotions for research-active staff has got me musing again about promotion pathways for research-enabling staff. 1/n
Announcement for those not used to spending so much time at home:
If someone puts toiletry items from a recent shop on the stairs, it is not because they’ve decided this is the best place to keep those toiletries, but because they need to be taken upstairs.
“At the end of nearly 20 years of rankings, there is little evidence that rankings make any meaningful impact on improving quality. And, there is no correlation between rising in the rankings and making a significant contribution to society or the public good.”
20 years on, what have we learned about global rankings? Ellen Hazelkorn and I bring together lessons from the recently published Research Handbook on University Rankings in this
@uniworldnews
article
NEW on Wonkhe: For Elizabeth Gadd, the Covid-19 pandemic makes it clear that long standing issues with academic publications need to be addressed quickly and definitively.
@lizziegadd
I’d love to see a future where research-enabling staff can pursue either a seniority track (going broader) or a specialism track (going deeper). Too often we lose our experts to general management, or they are stuck unrewarded halfway down the pay spine. 3/3
Just been invited to speak at an event that seeks to help attendees to understand the REF process. Tempted to respond that, alas, I don't understand the REF process.
Argh - so many assumptions in this paper. A “top” researcher is a well-cited researcher. A “prestigious institution” is an institution highly ranked in bibliometrics-only rankings. “Career success” is being highly cited. C’mon people.
“Developing positive research cultures is not about short-term competitive advantage but about the long-term health of the sector”.
My plea that
#REF2028
doesn’t make research culture the next big competition in Higher Education. 👇🏻
Up bright & early for my first day seconded to
@UofGlasgow
job-sharing the role of Head of Research Operations with the fabulous
@mgmcphillips
whilst
@allijjackson
is on leave. Exciting times ahead working with the amazing R&I team to implement their innovative research strategy!
Seriously
@SciVal
? Haven’t we all had this conversation? Publishing an article in a well-cited journal does not make the article high-quality. These misleading marketing tweets have to stop. Paging
@CEDMartinez
again...
I've worked
@UofGlasgow
for precisely one day and by the end of it I found myself typing an email which used the phrase "a wee bit".
#CulturalAppropriation
So, I decided that my last week
@UofGlasgow
should be my first week AT the University of Glasgow. A bit emotional TBH. It’s a special place. Looking forward to seeing some of my colleagues in 3D for the first time!
I’m hoping that one day the true identity of superheroes
@UWankings
and
@BantshireUni
will be revealed, and like Lois Lane, I’ll discover that I knew them all along.
Three questions:
1) Why don’t Oxbridge engage with the NSS?
2) Why are they still included in league tables that use the NSS?
3) Would other HEIs be extended the same exemption?
“There is a lack of clear information for women on what to do if they are sexually harassed or assaulted on public transport (although most authorities seem to have managed to install clear signage about what to do in the event of spotting a suspicious package).”
@CCriadoPerez
Watching expectantly to see whether ResearchFish now send a threatening tweet to the Vice-Provost for Research of one of the UK’s largest research institutions.
Researchfish is one of the worst software tools in UK academia (quite an achievement). UKRI’s failure to work with the community to improve the system is very saddening. Things must improve …
@UKRI_News
@Adamtickles
@MilesPadgett
Just putting my slides together for the
@ScienceEurope
Open Science conference session next week on 'Alternatives to Journal Metrics Based Assessment'.
Might be a short presentation.
Just when you think nothing more can shock you about the world university rankings you read the first-hand experiences of a University leader who took a principled stand against them. Spent the last 5 minutes writing “wow” in the margins of this book.
Fascinating study: 50% of academics claim that a journal's readership is the most important thing to them when deciding where to publish; but most believe their peers make their decisions based on journal prestige. I'm not the problem, it's them others.
My perspective, ‘Mis-measuring our universities: why global university rankings don’t add up’ has now been published in
@FrontResMetrics
! Huge thanks to
@KateRaworth
for the inspiration😊.
@jasonpriem
shows the beta of a tool which could show Libraries what proportion of the journals they subscribe to, and use (download, cite, author in), might be open access. Yes please!
#FORCE2019
Its university rankings season.
Sample this: non-oxbridge unis do well on many research and teaching scores but perform poorly on reputation metrics. Reputation scores come from a survey that is invitation-only which reinforces elitism.
This is a self-perpetuating process.
Great policy from
@EdinburghUni
Especially like: “No minimum performance objectives or targets will be set on the basis of a quantitative measure for which the individual cannot reasonably control the outcomes (e.g. grant income alone).”
.
@EdinburghUni
has signed
@DORAssessment
. We look forward to implementation, along with input on and review of current and alternative research metrics.
I'm sobbing quietly at my desk whilst reading our REF Staff circumstances declarations. The crap that some people have had to cope with & they still plough on trying to make the world a better place for the rest of us. I feel like giving them a medal.
#NotCutOutForThis
This is deeply problematic. And given the sector is scrabbling to move away from bibliometrics in researcher evaluation, it feels odd that it should be published in the journal ‘Innovative Higher Education’.
In the essay, we make the case that tenure and promotion (T&P) decisions could benefit from the use of bibliometric platforms like Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.
(Ungated, view only version here: )
2/16
Speechless. I get to work with the fabulous
@KarenStroobants
as Vice-Chairs of the Coalition on Advancing Research Assessment Steering Board. Thank you to everyone who voted. A huge honour.
In so many policy reports now responsible metrics seems to have been reduced to a methodological note stating "yeah, we know bibliometrics are crap but we're using them anyway". When will the limitations of bibliometrics actually stop us using them for unsuitable things?
And when it comes to a global emergency, we’re still having to beg publishers for access to our own research so that we might save large swathes of the human race from an unnecessary death....I say profit and credit can no longer be policy drivers.
As someone whose work was significantly influenced by the original Metric Tide review, I’m thrilled to be involved in revisiting this important study and ensuring responsible research assessment practices are fully embedded across the sector.
The Metric Tide Revisited: hot on the heels of last week’s
#REF2021
results,
@ResEngland
& other UK funders have asked
@LizzieGadd
@Stephen_Curry
& me to take a fresh look at the possibilities & pitfalls of metrics in research assessment
Shaking my head in wonder (again) at how anyone can think the so-called 2% researcher citation rankings are a good idea. Just look at the age, gender, and countries of the Top 20. Oh, and the placement of the ranking’s creator, in at No.11. Just no.
So today’s job is to convince 350 University leaders that university rankings might not* be what the HE sector needs. Wish me luck.
#EUA2023AnnualConf
*definitely isn’t.
Blimey. “The university issued a notice stating that articles published by Hindawi, MDPI and Frontiers will not be included in research performance statistics.”
I mean, that’s just as bad as judging by impact factor right? Journal-level rather than content-focused evaluation.
Almost 30,000 scholars have cast their vote in
@timeshighered
's global university academic reputation survey, the world’s largest invite-only survey that measures the prestige of universities in the eyes of the world’s top academics, writes
@RosaEllis
2 Qs asked by ECRs at training today:
1) Should I stop doing important tricky research to do hot topic stuff that will get more citations?
2) Should I publish in a high impact factor journal or one that reaches my target industry?
So sad that ECRs even feel they have to ask 😞
Dear colleagues,
For clarity: if I emailed you whilst you were on leave and I got your out-of-office message, I do not expect an apology for a delayed response on your return. I expect a delayed response.
Holiday in peace and return refreshed my friends.
A rough guide to interpreting UKRI policy timelines:
* Summer = before Christmas.
* Late Autumn = after your central heating goes on & before it goes off
* Winter = strong likelihood you'll be wearing a cardigan.
* 2024 = c2025
1) Surely the phrase “we will revisit policies & procedures” should come at the end of the 1st sentence, not the last? 2) I saw no evidence of abuse towards ResearchFish staff? 3) How does a zero-tolerance policy towards abuse of your *company* play out exactly?
We apologize for our poor word choice & we take seriously your comments. Please know we support your success & advancing investments in your research. However we adopt a zero tolerance policy towards abuse aimed at our company and staff, we will revisit policies & procedures.
Such a good point from
@UKRI_CEO
: If we learn that a colleague has had a paper accepted, why do we ask "what journal?", not "what's it about?". This has to change.
#UKRIO2021
It’s not even 9am & I’ve already heard folk describing the new
#REF2028
guidance as both “incremental” and “startling” which probably means they got it about right. Well done
@firthcat
@stevenhill
@JessicaCorner
& team.
One by one our
#REF2021
Unit Leads are signing off their submissions with such kind words in support of the REF team. I feel like I’m tearily waving them off at the train station.
UK HEIs are now 10 months into the next REF period, all labouring under what we know to be a false assumption that the next REF will look like the last one, simply because we don’t have anything else to work with. It does make planning very difficult.
Honestly, creating this chart has me in tears of rage (again). Do we honestly think that in the whole of African and Latin America there is NOT ONE SINGLE HIGH POTENTIAL INDIVIDUAL? FFS.