This webpage is a draft summary of the pending Action Plan. The official Action Plan is published on Zenodo.  This page is for communication purposes only. Please use always the following citation:

OPERAS. (2024). OPERAS CoARA Action Plan. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14267997

In 2022, OPERAS joined the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) to support research assessment reform. This action plan outlines OPERAS’ strategies to implement these reforms through various activities and services focused on the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). In this page we summarise the OPERAS Activities in relation to research assessment reform in 2023-2024; and the directions for the Action Plan.

Context: OPERAS Research Infrastructure

OPERAS supports open scholarly communication within the European Research Area (ERA). Unlike traditional research organizations, OPERAS does not evaluate researchers but focuses on promoting open science practices. Its governance includes a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and an Executive Assembly (EA), emphasizing participatory decision-making.

OPERAS Activities: 2023-2024

Research Assessment Reform Initiatives

1. GraspOS EU Project:

   – Leading the SSH pilot to integrate open science in research assessment.

   – Conducting community engagement workshops and analysing feedback.

   – Producing recommendations on responsible research assessment.

2. Internal Workshop for OPERAS Coordination Team:

   – Strategic direction for research assessment.

3. OPERAS Advocacy Special Interest Group:

   – Focus on responsible research assessment.

   – Workshops and conference sessions on advocacy and reform.

4. Participation in CoARA Working Groups:

   – Addressing multilingualism, policy advice, and peer review practices.

   – Evaluating SSH research globally.

Open Science Practices

  • Participation in DIAMAS and CRAFT-OA projects to promote open access and FAIR-ification.
  • Development of GoTriple discovery platform to enhance access to SSH research outputs.

OPERAS Services to be considered in the research assessment reform action plan:

– Metrics: Provides usage and impact metrics for open access content.

– GoTriple: A platform for SSH publications, researcher profiles, and projects.

– Pathfinder: Helps researchers find editorial solutions.

– PRISM: Standardizes peer review information for transparency.

– VERA: A collaboration platform for SSH research projects.

– Hypotheses: A platform for SSH research blogs and societal engagement.

– Mondaecus: A collaborative translation platform that introduces a human dimension to machine translation.

– Innovation Lab: Supports and advances innovative services and solutions for scholarly communication in SSH.

OPERAS CoARA Action Plan: 2025-2027

Open Science Directions

  • Leverage EU-funded projects (GraspOS, DIAMAS, Craft-OA, Palomera) to support research assessment reform.
  • Promote the Open Science Assessment Framework (OSAF).

OPERAS Infrastructure and Services

  • Integrate research assessment into OPERAS’ strategic objectives.
  • Demonstrate the utility of services like Metrics and PRISM in research assessment.

Community Engagement

  • Engage with CoARA Working Groups and the SSH community.
  • Host public events and webinars to discuss research assessment reforms.
  • Promote initiatives like HumetricsHSS and SCOPE Evaluation Framework.

Hiring and Appointments

  • Ensure transparency in selection criteria and decision-making processes.
  • Produce narrative CV templates for applicants.

Evaluation and Monitoring

  • Establish a public webpage for tracking action plan activities and outcomes.
  • Set qualitative and quantitative KPIs to measure long-term impact.

Conclusions and Next Steps

The action plan outlines OPERAS’ commitment to supporting research assessment reform through continuous engagement, transparent processes, and strategic use of its services. A Task Force will be established to set goals and monitor progress from 2025 onwards.

For any questions please contact: fotis.mystakopoulos[at]operas-eu.org