Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at RPOs: Quick-Reference Sheets from the Practical Guide

“Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at RPOs: Quick-Reference Sheets from the Practical Guide” is a set of concise, action-oriented resources designed to support Research Performing Organizations (RPOs) in adopting and advancing responsible research assessment (RRA) practices.

These one-pagers distill key insights from the full Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Performing Organizations, offering clear summaries, suggested interventions, and illustrative examples across several core areas of assessment reform. Topics include:

• Introduction to the Guide
• Key activities for developing an RRA strategy
• Key moments in research and researcher assessment:
  • Fair recruitment, hiring, and promotion practices
  • Reforming internal awards and grant processes
  • Evaluating research units holistically
  • Aligning institutional communications with RRA principles
• Key global initiatives and frameworks connected to RRA
• Tools and stories of change from RPOs worldwide

The Quick-Reference Sheets are designed to be flexible, discipline-agnostic, and adaptable to diverse organizational contexts. They aim to inspire practical action and reflection, whether an organization is just beginning its RRA journey or seeking to deepen existing efforts.

To support ease of use, we have uploaded:

• One consolidated file containing all Quick-Reference Sheets
• Individual files for each sheet, allowing you to download and share specific topics as needed

We have also produced Informational Briefs from the Practical Guide you may find at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16763794.

We thank Stephanie Warner (University of Calgary) for her thoughtful review of the Quick-Reference Sheets and Informational Briefs, which helped strengthen the clarity of these resources. Any errors and omissions remain our own.

The Practical Guide and these materials are part of Project TARA and, alongside Reformscape, the Building Blocks for Impact, and the Debiasing Committee Composition, forms a suite of tools designed to help organizations who are seeking to reform research assessment practices. Project TARA is supported by Arcadia, a family charitable foundation that helps people to record cultural heritage, to conserve and restore nature, and to promote open access to knowledge, whom we thank. Since 2002 Arcadia has awarded more than $1.2 billion to organizations around the world.

These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial CC BY-NC. They may be freely used, copied, and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the source is acknowledged.