A new Community of Practice
We aim to establish a Community of Practice (CoP) of research managers who focus on responsible metrics and the specific role of research managers in the associated reform process. Generally speaking, the goal of a CoP is to form a community of individuals learning with and from each other on a specific challenge or practical field, for a limited period of time. Issues are collectively examined, participants share their diverse initial knowledge within the group, solutions are tested, and experiences exchanged.
We envision starting with a rather small group, which can expand over time depending on the progress of the collaboration and the response to our results. CoPs offer great flexibility in their actual shape, depending on their mandate and the commitment of their members.
The members decide on the content
We will also collectively determine the exact content of the group work. Within the overarching theme of responsible metrics, there are many topics we can discuss: for example, how can we advance metrics literacies, i.e. the competence in dealing with metrics, at our institutions? How can scientific evaluation systems align with the principles of Open Science? How can existing benchmarking and analysis tools promote the goal of responsible metrics? How does artificial intelligence impact the use of scientometric methods?
Working in a structured and reliable manner
Through the methodology of the Community Canvas, we aim to ensure the structured development of the community. The Community Canvas can also be used to analyze and continuously improve the work of the CoP. We strive to achieve long-term collaboration through good planning and appropriate topic selection. And perhaps we can even manage to establish a large event focused on practical scientometrics, modeled after the Canadian BRIC conference.
Bringing knowledge into your own institution
We want the members of the Community of Practice to be empowered in their role as agents for promoting and accepting the shift in research assessment within academia, and to share their acquired insights as multipliers within their institutions and networks. Knowledge dissemination will therefore be an important topic in the CoP, and successes (as well as failures) in the practical application of newly acquired competencies will be regularly discussed.
Involving experts from academia
Furthermore, we aim to involve experts from scientific scientometrics where appropriate to enliven the interaction between research and research management — we believe that in this particular area, both sides can learn a great deal from each other. In doing so, we wish to look beyond Germany and turn our attention to the international state of research.