Explainer · Plain-language
What is DORA?
DORA — the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment — is a global initiative, drafted in 2012 and published in 2013, that calls on research institutions, funders, and publishers to stop using journal-based metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor as a proxy for the quality of individual research outputs.
The step most authors miss
Doing CRediT right? Don’t stop at the statement.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
What DORA asks
DORA sets out a general recommendation — do not use journal-based metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual articles, to assess a researcher’s contributions, or in hiring, promotion, or funding decisions — plus targeted recommendations for funders, institutions, publishers, and organisations that supply metrics. It promotes assessing research on its own merits and valuing a wide range of outputs.
Origin and signatories
DORA was developed in December 2012 by a group of editors and publishers of scholarly journals during the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in San Francisco, and formally launched in May 2013. It is signed by thousands of individuals and organisations worldwide and is now run as a cross-disciplinary, international initiative.
DORA, CoARA and the Leiden Manifesto
DORA sits within a wider responsible-metrics movement. The Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics (2015) offers ten principles for the responsible use of quantitative indicators. CoARA — the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (2022) — provides an agreement and member organisation through which signatories commit to reform; DORA is a core reference point and CoARA builds on its principles.
What signing means
Signing DORA is a public commitment to reform assessment practice — for example, removing journal impact factors from job adverts and review criteria, recognising diverse contributions (data, software, mentoring), and being explicit about the criteria used. It is a declaration of intent rather than a certification scheme.
Key facts
At a glance
- Full name: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment
- Drafted: 2012 (ASCB meeting); launched 2013
- Core ask: Stop using the Journal Impact Factor to judge individuals
- Related: Leiden Manifesto (2015); CoARA (2022)
- Status: Voluntary declaration; thousands of signatories
- Scope: Funders, institutions, publishers, metric providers
Common misconceptions
What people often get wrong
Often heard: DORA bans all metrics in research assessment.
Actually: No — DORA targets the misuse of journal-based metrics (especially the Journal Impact Factor) as a proxy for individual quality. It supports responsible, transparent use of a range of indicators.
Often heard: DORA and CoARA are the same thing.
Actually: No — DORA is a 2013 declaration of principles; CoARA is a 2022 coalition and agreement that organisations join to implement reform. They are complementary.
Often heard: Signing DORA certifies your assessment practice.
Actually: No — signing is a public commitment to reform, not an accreditation. The work is in changing actual review and promotion criteria.
Going deeper
