The international initiative CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment) was launched at the end of 2022, following on from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and, more specifically, the Paris Call on Research Assessment. This call was presented by the Open Science Committee at the Paris Open Science European Conference (OSEC 2022), organised as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It proposed a reform of evaluation to promote a global and qualitative assessment of individuals, groups and projects, by peers. It inspired the conclusions of the Council of the European Union on research assessment and open science chaired by the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau. 

In order to carry out this reform, CoARA has agreed on 10 commitments and now has more than 700 signatories worldwide.

The French COARA national chapter was established in October 2023, thanks to the DORA working group of the Open Science Committee. In the spring of 2024, it already includes many players in research evaluation in France: 24 universities, 11 research organisations, 3 agencies and 3 associations, i.e. in total 41 organisations. Most of them are CoARA signatories, but membership of CoARA is not a prerequisite for joining the French chapter. In this complex landscape, the French coalition aims to facilitate exchanges between players who implement or participate in various assessment processes (recruitment, career advancement, research bonuses, project funding, labelling of research teams or units, establishment, etc.) that are more or less connected. 

The objectives of the national chapter are to: 

• promote the coalition and its commitments 
• encourage the sharing of experience and resources in order to build collective expertise 
• facilitate and support actions in line with the coalition’s commitments
• promote the CoARA action plans in each establishment.

Participation in the national chapter helps the preparation to join CoARA and, for the institutions that have already joined, helps the implementation of its principles. It involves sharing resources and ideas, organising regular working sessions on various aspects of research assessment, communicating about CoARA’s commitments, as well as collaborating to set up a network of national chapters. There are currently 15 national chapters, all based in Europe https://coara.eu/coalition/national-chapters/. 

For more information : www.coara.fr

To contact or join the CoARA national chapter : chapitre-national-coara-france@groupes.renater.fr