Action Planning & Timeframe

The Agreement The Commitments Signatories FAQ Addressing Debates Action Planning & Timeframe

Action Plans: Timeframe & Useful Resources

Action Plan Overview:

In the context of the CoARA Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, signatory organisations (this incl. also member organisations) are invited to share with the community how their organisation has started the process of implementing the Core Commitments according to an Action Plan with defined milestones within one year of signing the Agreement*. While organisations have full freedom in the development of their Action Plan, several CoARA signatories have indicated that a light-touch resource would be helpful to support this process.

Timeframe:

The signatories of this agreement agree to share with each other and with their community how their organisation has started the process of reviewing or developing criteria, tools and processes in line with the core commitments and according to an Action Plan with defined milestones within one year of signing the agreement*.
Signatories of this agreement agree to regularly demonstrate progress towards reviewing, developing and evaluating criteria, tools and processes that fulfil the core commitments, with a touch point at end of 2027 or within five years of signing the agreement, by which time they will have worked through at least one cycle of review and development of their assessment criteria, tools and processes.

Please note: organisations have full freedom in the development of their Action Plan, following the request of several CoARA signatories that a light-touch guide would be helpful to support this process, this has been established. Signatories that are not assessing research projects, researchers, research units or research performing organisations commit to contribute to the reform and share progress with each other and the community respecting the same timeframe.

Useful Resources:

Support for CoARA signatories in the preparation of Action Plans
- This document is a resource to support signatories in preparing an Action Plan towards implementing the commitments they have signed up to. The document lists a series of Guiding Questions that can be useful for organisations when designing and defining the different steps they will undertake in this process. These Guiding Questions are meant to:
  - Take into account the fact that the organisations are numerous and diverse. The guiding questions for the development of an Action Plan should therefore be inspiring and incentivise reflection for all the different types of organisations in CoAR
  - Encourage not only the reflection about the content but mainly about the change approach, involving researchers across all career stages and people working in research and innovation in the broadest possible sense, including research support personnel, in the process and in conducting dialogue
  - Signatories and CoARA members are not required to use the Guiding Questions, since they do not serve as a rigid template but rather as a mean of guidance with suggestions. Signatories who have already developed an Action Plan are not asked to duplicate efforts.

Submit Your Action Plans via ZENODO
- CoARA signatories and members are invited to share their Action Plans via Zenodo by storing them to a Zenodo community dedicated to CoARA Action Plans.
- Please send an email to secretariat@coara.eu once you have uploaded your Action Plan to Zenodo. Kindly include in any information the title and DOI of your upload for easy reference.
- Click here for the full collection of CoARA Action Plans on Zenodo.
Step-by-Step Guide on how to Upload Your Action Plan to Zenodo

Scroll down for webinars and FAQs!

*In light of certain organisations nearing their first anniversary as signatories at the time of the dissemination of this resource, the CoARA Steering Board suggests that these signatories and members consider extending the timeframe for preparing and publishing their action plans by an additional six months.

Webinar on Action Plans

Please watch the Youtube webinar to learn more about Action Plans!

FAQ for Action Plans

Which organisations commit to share action plans?

“The signatories of this Agreement agree to share with each other and with their community how their organisation has started the process of reviewing or developing criteria, tools and processes in line with the core Commitments and according to an action plan with defined milestones, by the end of 2023 or within one year of signing the Agreement.” (Excerpt from the ARRA)
For early signatories, the Steering Board recommended adding an extra 6 months to their
timeline to publish their action plans.

What is the timeline for sharing action plans? Are there any updates needed?

Signatories are expected to make their action plans available within one year (for early signatories, within 1,5 years) of signing the Agreement. “Signatories of this Agreement agree to regularly demonstrate progress towards reviewing, developing and evaluating criteria, tools and processes that fulfil the core Commitments, with a touch point at the end of 2027 or within five years of signing the Agreement, by which time they will have worked through at least one cycle of review and development of their assessment criteria, tools and processes.” (Excerpt from the ARRA)
Action plans are living documents and, as such, can be updated at any time within the 5-
The year time frame is according to monitoring carried out by the organisation.

What kind of support is available for signatories in creating their action plans?

In October 2023, signatories were provided with guidelines on designing their action plans, along with access to a Zenodo collection for sharing these plans. To provide further support and continue the dialogue on good practices around them, we cordially invited signatories and prospective signatories to participate in a webinar dedicated to action plans. The recording of the event can be found here. An updated FAQ is available here (scroll down the webpage).
In addition, many CoARA National Chapters have committed to support signatories with
their action plan creation processes in language- and country-specific contexts.

Do all signatories of the ARRA, including those who are not directly in charge of research(er) assessment?

Yes. Page 11 of the Agreement is indicative here, stating:
“Signatories that are not assessing research projects, researchers, research units or
Research-performing organisations commit to contributing to the reform and sharing progress with each other and the community respecting the same timeframe.” (excerpt from the ARRA)
Following this, signatories not directly in charge of assessment are also requested
to share their practical commitments to the reform as an action plan. The generic guidance in their case is that they should focus on how they support the work of those institutions in charge of assessment. (For example, can we consolidate consensus on certain disciplinary evaluation criteria? Providing infrastructural underpinnings of the reform? Through advocacy work?)

After browsing through the Zenodo collection of action plans, we cannot find examples that are easily adoptable to our organisation. Is that a problem?

No. Action plans should be anchored in the mission and specific operational context of a given institution. Defining starting points and taking stock of how the organisation could most meaningfully contribute to the reform, what the priorities are and a realistic time frame are good first steps.

Are there any other generic good practices for getting started with creating action plans?

Starting out from the 10 commitments of the ARRA and matching them against specific commitments in a straightforward manner is a good practice. Assigning a clear time frame to lines of action is also a good practice.

Are all the 10 commitments of the ARRA need to be addressed in the action plans?

No. A clear indication of which line of action supports commitment is a good practice.

If the implementation plan of some of the Core Commitments is included in another type of official document, or in several, separate, official documents, such as the Gender Equality Plan, the HRS4R label related action plan, the Strategic plan, how shall we refer to this information in the CO? Shall we gather it in a summary in the CoARA Action Plan?

Yes, they can refer to these documents in a References/summary section added to their APs.

Besides being uploaded on Zenodo, shall the Action Plan be a formal document also published on organisation’s website?

There is no requirement as of now to publish action plans on our institutional website (we will bring this back to the SB), but the more publicity, the better we endorse it.

Shall the Action Plan be actively communicated within one’s own institution?

Yes, all dissemination and internal discussion activities are highly encouraged.

How can we publish our action plans on Zenodo?

You can find a step-by-step guide here.

Is it important to add a license to action plans? Is there a recommended license?

Yes. We recommend the use of Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0.. which requires clear attribution but still allows for the reuse of the content for instance for research-on-research purposes.

Signatories

Signatories of the Agreement can become members of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). The Coalition will bring support to the reform of research assessment. It will offer members the possibility to exchange knowledge, work together, test and pilot, and be supported by peers, for advancing in the process of research assessment reform.

Signatories

Agreement

The Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment sets a shared direction for changes in assessment practices for research, researchers and research performing organisations, with the overarching goal to maximise the quality and impact of research.

Download the full agreement (PDF)

Signatories

Agreement

Download the full agreement (PDF)