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Open science at UiT

The DORA Declaration at UiT

In 2016, UiT signed the DORA declaration (The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment). The core of the DORA declaration is that it is the quality of research work that must be assessed rather than the channel in which it is published. The principles of the Dora declaration must form the basis for all research evaluation at UiT.

By signing the DORA declaration, UiT has adhered to the principles and committed itself to following them up in practice. When assessing appointments or promotions to positions, when admitting and assessing doctoral degrees and when allocating research funds and R&D sabbatical UiT shall emphasize the quality, relevance and significance of the research work and not where the work is published, in accordance with the principles in the DORA declaration.

In addition, documents and guidelines are reviewed for other areas that should make visible and safeguard the DORA principles in UiT's organization, such as prices.

The DORA Declaration also provides recommendations for researchers and encourages:

  • More emphasis on the content of the research
  • Quote directly from the primary sources
  • Use several indicators / measuring points to show the importance of research
  • Change the culture

Former pro-rector Kenneth Ruud talks about the implementation of DORA at UiT during the opening of the Munin conference in November 2018.

About DORA

The DORA declaration was published in 2012 and recommends that the assessment of research results should not be based on which journals the researchers have published in, but on a qualitative assessment of the content of the articles independent of the publication channel. The statement is particularly negative to the use of the Journal Impact Factor in, for example, appointments to scientific positions, promotion and allocation of research funds. DORA recommends evaluating a wider range of results from research than scientific articles, including datasets, software and influence on policy making or practice development.

DORA targets research funders, research institutes, individual researchers, scientific publishers and institutions that produce bibliometric data on research. Individuals and organizations around the world have signed DORA. Several Norwegian stakeholders have signed, including UiT, NTNU, NMBU and the Institute of Marine Research. The Research Council of Norway signed DORA in the spring of 2018.

Updated: 27.01.2026, updated by: Lars Nordmo