The project recORD: recognise ORD

A look back at the main outputs and recommendations from this project

Projects
Research assessment
Author

SwissRN ORD working group

Published

October 10, 2025

The project recognise Open Research Data practices (recORD) is a collaborative effort involving 12 higher education institutions (HEIs), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), and the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS). The project was funded by swissuniversities and run from January 2024 to March 2025. The main goal of recORD was to improve the recognition and valuation of Open Research Data (ORD) practices in three key areas:

Outputs

  • Three national workshops were organized for each of the key areas.

  • A literature review to identify key issues regarding assessment of ORD practices nationally and internationally. It identifies core values, existing frameworks and derives propositions to take into account when developing ORD assessments.

    Araujo, P., Bornatici, C., & Heers, M. (2024). Recognising Open Research Data in Research Assessment: Overview of Practices and Challenges (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11060207

  • A study comparing three assessment situations: individual recruitment and career assessment, reesearch proposals asessment and research units assessment. The survey is based on a questionnaire on ORD-related practices, completed by 53 professionals involved in research assessment and/or ORD policies across 29 Swiss HEIs and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

    Araujo, P., Bornatici, C., Ochsner, M. & Heers, M. (2024).Assessing and Enabling Open Research Data Practices in Swiss Higher Education Institutions: A Comprehensive Landscape Analysis. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12755475

  • A final report putting forward 9 recommendations to enhance recognition of ORD practices. The recommendations are based on an analysis of existing frameworks and current practices within Swiss HEIs, and can be divided in three categories. Below is a short summary of these recommendations:

    Intended impact of ORD recognition

    1. Recognising / Incentivising ORD / FAIR contributions
    2. To make the distinction between compliance exercises and ORD contributions that foster better research practices, assessable quality criteria
    3. New assessment criteria for ORD are to follow an additive logic, not multiplicative logic.

    Quality Criteria & Their Parametrisation

    1. Does the researcher demonstrate methodological competency regarding ORD / FAIR data? (data generation, preprocessing, analysis, publication, reuse)
    2. Did the researcher provide a service to their community / relevant audiences in making their digital objects available?

    Implementation

    1. A backward-looking narrative CV element on ORD achievements
    2. Complemented with a forward-looking narrative element on ORD in the proposed work or career.
    3. Peers from the same discipline should assess the ORD quality criteria
    4. A coordinated, sustainable national landscape of ORD infrastructures and services across all Swiss HEIs.
Back to top