Academic publisher Taylor & Francis Group has signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which aims to improve the ways in which researchers and the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated.
Signatories to DORA recognize that the Journal Impact Factor should not be used as an all-encompassing tool for evaluating research. They advocate for a sea change where all research articles are assessed on their own merits and impact, and not based on the basis of their publication venue. By signing DORA, Taylor & Francis aligns with these concepts.
Taylor & Francis has long been involved in activities to improve research assessment and already meets most of the recommendations set out by DORA. For instance, Taylor & Francis Online has displayed article-level metrics such as downloads and citations for many years, and Altmetric Attention Scores have been available on the site since 2015. The publisher is also one of the first of the large publishers to join the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC). Open research publisher, F1000 Research, was one of the original 75 organizations to sign DORA.
In order to provide a richer view of journal performance in accordance with DORA’s recommendations, a new section has recently been to Taylor & Francis Online which displays an enhanced range of available citation, usage, and publishing process metrics for each journal. This development is accompanied by new guidance for researchers on the use and limitations of journal metrics.
Taylor & Francis plans to continue to build on this record, working with colleagues, editors, and society partners to encourage fair and responsible use of research metrics.
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