Weekend Big Deal Longread: PLOS CEO Alison Muddit on Reforming Research Assessment

This week’s longread is not too long, actually, but it’s a nice exploration of a vexing topic, through the lens of a new tool that might help shift the dynamic in a very useful direction. What metric of quality might be usefully applied at the journal level, and might help avoid the many pitfalls of existing metrics, especially the Journal Impact Factor? Check out Reforming Research Assessment: A Tough Nut to Crack, published at the Scholarly Kitchen blog, to learn more about the TOP Factor, a new contender in the metric space, created by the Center for Open Science. And follow the links in the piece to read more about the miserable culture that permeates research, as well as the deep thoughts at Center for Open Science that animate the release of tools like the TOP Factor.