PSYC Chair Wins $10K Prize for Efforts to Increase Research Rigor and Transparency

Michael Dougherty was recognized for his work leading an overhaul of the department’s promotion and tenure guidelines

Michael Dougherty, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology, is one of five winners of the $10,000 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Rigor Champions Prize, which recognizes individuals who have gone “above and beyond their normal job duties” to create a culture that values accessible, high-quality neuroscience research.

As is detailed in a case study recently published by the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), Dougherty took the lead on changing the department’s promotion, tenure, annual review, and hiring procedures—including removing Journal Impact Factor and citation count metrics—so that they would encourage transparent research practices, and increase research rigor, inclusivity, and societal impact.

“When you think about the goal and purpose of higher education and why we take these positions, it’s because we felt there would be some good that we could impart on the world,” Dougherty said in a release by SPARC and the Higher Education Leadership Initiative (HELIOS Open), of which Dougherty is a part. “The traditional markers of impact are how many times you’ve been cited [in a journal]. That’s not the type of impact that is valuable to the broader society.”

The case study is the first in North America to be recognized by DORA.

"I am so impressed by, and grateful for, Mike's efforts to increase the quality and accessibility of the research that is happening in our shared field," said BSOS Dean Susan M. Rivera, who conducts research on brain structure and function in both neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals, including those with autism, Down syndrome and the fragile X spectrum of involvement. "Our community is incredibly lucky to benefit from Mike's scholarship and leadership, as the NINDS Rigor Champions Prize so appropriately recognizes."

The NINDS Rigor Champions Prize also acknowledges Dougherty’s work outside of PSYC, which includes holding workshops and creating an online repository and toolkit that all provide academic leaders with resources on how to follow in PSYC’s promotion and tenure footsteps.

Because of his work’s connection to PSYC, and the buy-in it required of individuals in the department, Dougherty sees the NINDS prize as a shared win.

“I think it says something about the department, the faculty, and the culture. First, that this type of work is recognized validates the importance of the effort we undertook as a department. And second, that the faculty engaged in this effort with me means that they recognized the problems with the existing system of incentives and were willing to do it,” Dougherty said. “Since we've implemented these changes, every single job candidate who has come through our department has been keenly interested in learning more about it—it has become a recruiting tool, or at least it seems. I feel the department is moving in a very positive direction, and this recognition validates that."

Published on Mon, Jul 8, 2024 - 11:40AM