CoARA: Some personal reflections

Abstract

The CoARA initiative has attracted a lot of interest in the research community due to its anticipated impact on the evaluation processes of their activities. Although it is still in a preliminary phase, some observations can be made as to the basic aspects of the proposal. The changes include decreasing the importance of traditional indicators such as metrics, and placing greater relevance on qualitative indicators. This entails obvious risks related to both the subjectivity and feasibility of an analysis. As of now, there is still no actual definition of the criteria, no databases on which to base them, and no studies on their validity. We analyse some specific aspects and advocate for the creation of rich and diverse open infrastructures. Finally, a call is made to include composite indicators.