The Responsible Research(er) Recruitment Checklist: A best practice guide for applying principles of responsible research assessment in researcher recruitment materials

Assessment of potential academic staff members is necessary for making recruitment decisions. Amidst growing concern over the use of inappropriate quantitative indicators for research and researcher evaluation, institutions have begun to reform their policies to emphasise broader, responsible researcher assessment. To help implement such reforms, here we share a best practice Responsible Research(er) Recruitment Checklist for engaging with the principles of responsible research assessment in the writing of recruitment materials such as job adverts for research and academic roles. Aligned with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) principles, the checklist provides guidance on how to emphasise the primacy of research content and researcher contributions to published articles, without reliance on journal-based metrics. The checklist also recommends that evaluations consider a broad range of research outputs, and that collaboration, citizenship, author contributions, and Open Research practices be recognised. At the time of writing, the checklist is being piloted.