Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA)
The Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) is an international coalition that promotes reform of the system for evaluating scientific research. In total, it comprises more than 700 organisations campaigning for reform of the methods and processes by which research, researchers, and research organisations are evaluated. Its main goal is to move beyond current research assessment methods, which rely heavily on publication-based metrics and often fail to recognise the wide array of contributions made by researchers.
CoARA’s members, which include funders, assessment authorities, and professional societies, agreed on a set of guiding principles and outlined them in the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, published in July 2022. The document provides a roadmap for the reforms in general and for the implementation of this guide in particular.
The changes being put forward by CoARA aim to recognise the diverse outputs, practices, and activities that maximise the quality and impact of research through an emphasis on qualitative judgement in assessment. To this end, it promotes collaborative action, knowledge exchange, and mutual learning among all its members.