Fostering cultural change in research through innovative knowledge sharing, evaluation, and community engagement strategies
Junsuk Rho, Jinn-Kong Sheu, Andrew Forbes, Din Ping Tsai, Andrea Alú, Wei Li, Mark Brongersma, Joonhee Choi, Javier Garcia de Abajo, Laura Na Liu, Alexander Szameit, Tracy Schloemer, Andreas Tittl, Mario Chemnitz, Cheng Wang, Jiejun Zhang, Yuri Kivshar, Tie Jun Cui, Ren-Min Ma, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Cuicui Lu, Yao-Wei Huang, Miguel Angel Solis Prosser, Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus, Rachel Grange, Sungjin Kim, Anderson S. L. Gomes, Davide Ramaccia, Yating Wan, Apostolos Argyris, Antonio G. Souza Filho, Tanmoy Chandrad, Cristiano Matricardi
Published: 2025/9/15
Abstract
Scientific research needs a new system that appropriately values science and scientists. Key innovations, within institutions and funding agencies, are driving better assessment of research, with open knowledge and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles as central pillars. Furthermore, coalitions, agreements, and robust infrastructures have emerged to promote more accurate assessment metrics and efficient knowledge sharing. However, despite these efforts, the system still relies on outdated methods where standardized metrics such as h-index and journal impact factor dominate evaluations. These metrics have had the unintended consequence of pushing researchers to produce more outputs at the expense of integrity and reproducibility. In this community paper, we bring together a global community of researchers, funding institutions, industrial partners, and publishers from 14 different countries across the 5 continents. We aim at collectively envision an evolved knowledge sharing and research evaluation along with the potential positive impact on every stakeholder involved. We imagine these ideas to set the groundwork for a cultural change to redefine a more fair and equitable scientific landscape.