{"id":5459,"date":"2025-12-03T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/?p=5459"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:40:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:40:25","slug":"international-community-convenes-in-pisa-to-advance-coordinated-reform-in-publishing-and-research-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/international-community-convenes-in-pisa-to-advance-coordinated-reform-in-publishing-and-research-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"International community convenes in Pisa to advance coordinated reform in publishing and research assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On 14 November 2025, representatives from several organisations across the publishing reform and research assessment reform communities gathered in Pisa, Italy, for a workshop aimed at identifying and advancing joint actions to strengthen both movements. Co-hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ASAPbio<\/a>, Leiden University&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.universiteitleiden.nl\/en\/social-behavioural-sciences\/cwts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sfdora.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DORA<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/council.science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">International Science Council (ISC)<\/a>, the meeting marked an important step in building momentum toward a more coordinated and impactful approach to reform across research assessment and publishing. The organisers share the view that meaningful progress in publishing and research assessment depends on deeper collaboration between reform initiatives and, where possible, alignment of their agendas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The workshop involved international representatives from a range of stakeholder groups including:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Open science and assessment reform initiatives: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ajol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">African Journals Online (AJOL)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coara.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heliosopen.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HELIOS Open<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clacso.org\/folec\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Latin American Forum for Research Assessment (FOLEC-CLACSO)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/makedatacount.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Make Data Count<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sparcopen.org\/news\/2025\/international-open-access-week-2025-highlights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SPARC<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rapidscience.org\/stratos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Strategies for Open Science (Stratos)<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Publishers: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/fr\/universitypress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cambridge University Press<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/elifesciences.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">eLife<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/plos.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PLOS<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Research institutes &amp; universities: <a href=\"https:\/\/dstcpriisc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DST Centre for Policy Research<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maynoothuniversity.ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Maynooth University<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/researchonresearch.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Research on Research Institute (RoRI)<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Research funders &amp; policymakers: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwf.ac.at\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Austrian Science Fund (FWF)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/commission.europa.eu\/index_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">European Commission<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhmi.org\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrf.ac.za\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Research Foundation South Africa (NRF)<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Academies and researcher networks: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsv.fi\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federation of Finnish Learned Societies<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mariecuriealumni.eu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marie Curie Alumni Association<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A shared agenda of challenges<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Discussions centred on key challenges at the intersection of publishing and research assessment, including overreliance on journal-based indicators, dependence on selective bibliographic databases, limited recognition of peer review and other essential research activities, and an excessive focus on journal articles relative to other research outputs. In breakout groups, participants explored practical gaps in existing initiatives, the need for more robust metadata and infrastructures to track diverse research contributions, and strategies to engage underrepresented voices and key decision-makers such as university leaders and funders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Participants also highlighted the importance of discipline-specific approaches, the professionalisation of research assessment, fostering community governance of infrastructures, and developing interoperable, globally informed standards and metadata frameworks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Building momentum for collaboration<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the workshop highlighted the complexity of the challenges ahead, it also reaffirmed the potential for coordinated, multi-layered action to drive meaningful change. Participants noted that although many promising initiatives already exist, stronger connectivity among them, and greater alignment across sectors, will be essential to shifting entrenched norms and shaping a more coherent global landscape for research assessment and dissemination.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The workshop marks an important step in a shared effort to build a research ecosystem that more fully recognises diverse scholarly contributions, strengthens research quality and integrity, and advances more inclusive and equitable practices across disciplines and regions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this was an invite-only preparatory meeting, the organisers emphasised that it forms part of a wider, ongoing process of community engagement. The insights gathered in Pisa will inform future, more inclusive activities, including a meeting convened by the ISC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/council.science\/our-work\/forum-science-publishing-assessment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum on Publishing and Research Assessment<\/a>, ensuring broader opportunities for the global research community to contribute to and shape the next stages of this work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The organisers are processing the many rich insights resulting from the Pisa workshop. Together with participants and partners, follow-up actions will be identified to deepen collaboration in the months ahead and to expand the conversation to include a broader range of actors in the global research landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Cross-posted with the International Science Council (ISC), CWTS Leiden, and DORA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 14 November 2025, representatives from several organisations across the publishing reform and research assessment reform communities gathered in Pisa, Italy, for a workshop aimed at identifying and advancing joint [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asapbio-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5459"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5471,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459\/revisions\/5471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asapbio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}