SIG-MET Distinguished Speaker Series: Towards responsible metrics – The open research information transition

Description

Abstract: The importance of responsible use of scientometric indicators is increasingly being discussed. There is a growing recognition that responsible use of indicators requires the indicators and the underlying data to be fully transparent. I will discuss the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information, a global initiative to promote openness of research information, and will reflect on the importance of this initiative to advance responsible use of indicators. Open data sources such as OpenAlex also play a crucial role in this development. Cloud infrastructures facilitate easier access to these open data sources, enabling these sources to be used by a broad community of users. This is for instance demonstrated by the ORION-DBs initiative. I will conclude by offering some thoughts on the implications of these developments for the use of scientometric indicators, both in scholarly work in the metaresearch field and in policy contexts. 

Speaker: Professor Ludo Waltman 

Bio: Ludo Waltman is scientific director and professor of Quantitative Science Studies at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. He is co-chair of the Research on Research Institute (RoRI). Ludo’s work focuses on studying and developing infrastructures, algorithms, and tools to support research assessment, science policy, and scholarly communication. Ludo is open science ambassador of Leiden University, president of ASAPbio, and one of the initiators of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information. Together with his colleague Nees Jan van Eck, Ludo has developed the well-known VOSviewer software for bibliometric visualization. Ludo serves as Editor-in-Chief of the MetaROR (MetaResearch Open Review) platform. Previously he was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Quantitative Science Studies.