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Open Tools and Visitation Frameworks for Global Research Assessment Reform (OT-ViRARe)

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Mission and objectives 

The OT-ViRARe Task Group aims to co-develop a new generation of open, FAIR-aligned, and visitation-enabled tools for responsible research assessment, with particular emphasis on equitable adoption across the Global South. By extending CODATA’s strategic priorities in FAIR data, semantic interoperability, and data governance for AI, the TG integrates data visitation, semantic AI, and research assessment reform into a unified framework. OT-ViRARe will design the Open Research Assessment Toolkit (ORAT) and associated semantic and policy infrastructures to support ethical, interoperable, and contextually grounded assessment systems for researchers, organisations, and thematic scientific fields.

Significance 

Global calls for research assessment reform recognise that traditional metrics, especially journal-based indicators are inadequate, inequitable, and incompatible with Open Science and AI-driven research. Yet many countries and institutions lack practical, scalable tools to implement responsible evaluation frameworks. At the same time, data sharing restrictions, privacy regulations, and uneven infrastructure have made it difficult to access the data needed for richer, more inclusive evaluation. Data visitation, combined with emerging semantic AI workflows, offers a transformative solution: enabling cross-border analysis, contribution recognition, and metadata enrichment without transferring sensitive data. OT-ViRARe is the first initiative to combine these methodological advances into a cohesive, globally adaptable assessment model.

Impact 

Over the next two years, OT-ViRARe will deliver the first visitation-aware research assessment ecosystem, including ORAT v1.0, semantic enrichment tools, multilingual metadata models, and cross-border evaluation demonstrators. By adapting components of the #SemanticClimate toolkit to analyse not only documents but also expand our current capability to evaluating wider groups, such as for example, researchers, organisations, projects, or research themes, the TG will introduce AI-ready, reproducible, ontology-aligned assessment workflows that respect local contexts and safeguard sensitive data. The TG’s outputs will offer an actionable pathway for governments, funders, universities, and regional research systems, (especially in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and LMIC regions) to move beyond journal metrics toward equitable, transparent, and AI-supported research evaluation.

Planned (and later on actual) activities and outputs for 2025-2027 

  • 2025 

    • Core Team Establishment
        Putting together an international team of experts in data semantification, AI over NLP, RRA, visitation-enabled workflows and FAIR metadata templates. This core team will be represented by our Program Manager, Secretary, co-Chairs, liaisons and interns. 
    • ECR  Engagement
        Engaging Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and youth knowledge champions for leading various activities and outputs over the 24 months of this TG.  

  • 2026

    • Release of ORAT v1.0 (Open Research Assessment Toolkit) for #SemanticClimate enhanced modular templates, semantic schema, visitation-ready workflows
    • Guidelines for visitation-enabled responsible research assessment, including legal, ethical, and technical frameworks
    • Launch of TG Working Groups on metadata/ontologies, policy frameworks, and capacity-building
    • Metadata & Ontology Toolkit for multilingual, culturally sensitive, visitation-based semantic enrichment
    • Regional Workshops (Asia, Africa, Latin America) on AI-enabled data semantification, knowledge graphs/ encyclopedias as well as FAIR, responsible assessment systems

  • 2027

    • Publication of the OT-ViRARe White Paper: Bridging Data Access and Research Assessment Reform in the Global South
    • Joint symposium with CODATA, RDA, GOSC, DSJ and national committees on integrating visitation into RRA
    • Final report and open repositories of tools, schemas, demonstrators, training materials
    • Presentation of outputs to the CODATA Community at the 2027 IDW.

(As 2025–2027 progresses, this section will be updated with actual outputs, links, and additional subpages.)

Past Achievements 

Since this TG is newly established for the 2025–2027 term, it does not have a prior cycle’s outputs. However, the TG is built on achievements of related initiatives:

(A curated subpage will later include cross-referenced reports, ontologies, white papers, and prototype toolkits contributed by TG partners.)

Contacts

Co-chairs: Dr. Debasisa Mohanty, India, Dr. Peter Murray-Rust, United Kingdom, Dr. Adrianna Baravalle, Argentina

TG Secretary: Dr. Gitanjali Yadav, India

TG ECR Lead: Dr. Renu Kumari, #semanticClimate

 

Page last updated: 2025-12-18