Examples of principles usually followed at Universities in terms of the responsible use of metrics:
- Quantitative evaluation should support qualitative, expert assessment.
- Measure performance against the research missions of the institution, group or researcher.
- Keep data collection and analytical processes open, transparent and simple.
- Allow those evaluated to verify data and analysis.
- Account for variation by field in research practices.
- Base assessment of individual researchers on a qualitative judgement of their portfolio.
- Use multiple indicators to provide a more robust and wide-ranging picture of the research activities.
- Scrutinize indicators regularly and update them.
Resources:
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/support/publishing/responsible-use-of-metrics/
https://uct.ac.za/research-support-hub/outputs/research-assessment
https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1406/researcher_support/17/research_metrics/5
Other useful information on the topic:
Doing metrics responsibly (Elsevier presentation)
Research evaluation needs to change with the times (2022 article, Nature)
Human Metrics Initiative