RFI Management

Governance and management of the Research Fairness Initiative are essential to its independence and credibility.

Phase 1

The COHRED Core RFI Team – assisted by a globally representative Technical Working Group (TWG1) – used the extensive inputs from three global consultations to create the RFI, the areas for reporting, and the quality standards for certification of reporting.

Phase 2

Independence between standard setting for reporting and certification of reporting is crucial for credibility and impact. Therefore, the search and recruitment process of a second Technical Working Group (TWG2) has been initiated, which will have much more influence on shaping the RFI development in future.

At the same time, there should be a balance independence with financial stability. Hence, the RFI is not yet set up as a separate organisation. Instead, COHRED provides the Secretariat function for the work of the TWG.

Phase 3

It is anticipated that the TWG2 will grow into an RFI Board that will be responsible for standard development and conflict resolution, as well as a more technical team that will work on continuously improving reporting guides and benchmark development. For now, COHRED will continue to provide the Secretariat, but is anticipating that this may split off to a separate non-profit body.

For now, the RFI core team proposes the following governance and management structure.

Pending increasing resources, it is anticipated that this structure will create even more ways to ensure independence between income, standard setting and certification.