Checklist of multilingualism policies and initiatives

1 Checklist of multilingualism policies and initiatives WORKING GROUP ON MULTILINGUALISM AND LANGUAGE BIASES IN RESEARCH ASSESSMENT 2 Checklist of multilingualism policies and initiatives This checklist has been produced by the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) Working Group (WG) on Multilingualism and language biases in research assessment to complement Implementation proposal for language-aware assessments (Annex IV). This document contains two sections: 1) Checklist and 2) Summaries of 16 global and regional policies and initiatives, which many organisations are committed or adhere to, regarding multilingualism and language biases in research assessment. 1. Checklist Organisations reforming research assessment can draw on the 16 documents listed below as the basis for implementing language-aware assessment: ☐ 1. Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment ☐ 2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights ☐ 3. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ☐ 4. UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science ☐ 5. G20 Recommendations on inclusion, diversity and combating inequalities in science, technology and innovation ☐ 6. UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers ☐ 7. Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe ☐ 8. European Charter for Researchers ☐ 9. Council conclusions on research assessment and implementation of open science ☐ 10. CLACSO–FOLEC Declaration of Principles ☐ 11. Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication ☐ 12. Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics ☐ 13. Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information ☐ 14. San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) ☐ 15. More than our rank ☐ 16. ECSPM Declaration for Multilingualism in Higher Education 3 2. Summaries This section provide a brief summary description of the 12 policies and initiatives, their scope, relevance and the main perspectives of interest to language-aware assessments. In bullets following the brief summary descriptions, the relevant contents of each document are provided with quotations. 1. Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment (ARRA) was published on 20 July 2022 to set a shared direction for changes in assessment practices for research, researchers and research performing organisations, with the overarching goal to maximise the quality and impact of research. In addition to principles for overarching conditions and for assessment criteria and processes, ARRA includes 10 commitments, including four core and 6 supporting commitments, and a 5-year timeframe for implementations. ARRA also includes annexes to support the implementation of assessment reforms. Over 900 ARRA signatories, organisations across Europe and globally, have publicly committed to contributing actively and constructively to reforming research assessment. Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) is the community of ARRA signatories. According to ARRA, reform includes recognizing diversity of research contributions regardless of language and moving away from inappropriate uses of metrics, which are biased based on language. ● II. Implement the following Commitments, Core commitments, 1. Recognise the diversity of contributions to, and careers in, research in accordance with the needs and nature of the research: “Scope: Changes in assessment practices should enable… recognition of the broad diversity of valuable contributions that researchers make to science and for the benefit of society, including diverse outputs beyond journal publications and irrespective of the language in which they are communicated”. ● II. Implement the following Commitments, Core commitments, 3. Abandon inappropriate uses in research assessment of journaland publication-based metrics, in particular inappropriate uses of Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and hindex: “Scope: Inappropriate uses of journaland publication-based metrics in research assessment should be abandoned. In particular, this means moving away from using metrics like the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), Article Influence Score (AIS) and h-index as proxies for quality and impact. ‘Inappropriate uses’ include:… assessing outputs based on metrics relating to publication venue, format or language; ● II. Implement the following Commitments, Supporting commitments, 6. Review and develop research assessment criteria, tools and processes, 6.2 commitment (projects and researchers): “Scope: criteria, tools and processes should be reviewed and developed together with researchers in different 4 disciplines and at different career stages; and should enable recognition of the diversity of research activities and practices that contribute to research quality, including diverse outputs in different languages”. ● Annex 1 – The need for research assessment reform: “Reform will need to be flexible and adapted by research organisations to take into account the diversity of disciplines, the variety of competency areas and talents, the differences between cultures, countries and regions, the diversity of languages used in the performance and communication of research…” ● Annex 3 – Reform journey step 5: “Develop existing and design new assessment criteria, tools, and processes with assessors and those that are assessed; consider the diversity of contributions including: diverse outputs beyond journal publications and in different languages…” ● Annex 4 – Toolbox / Consider the diversity of contributions: “Value diverse outputs (FAIR data sets, replication studies, registered reports, pre-prints) in different languages in accordance with the Helsinki initiative” 2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 and endorsed by all 193 UN Member States. While not legally binding in itself, it serves as a foundational instrument for international human rights law and is widely regarded as customary international law. The declaration affirms the right of all individuals to participate in cultural life and to benefit from scientific advancement, and it establishes that these rights must be guaranteed without discrimination, including on the basis of language. UDHR provides a strong basis to UN member states for promoting equitable access to science and research across languages, and for addressing languagebased bias in science, research and higher education. ● Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.” ● Article 27: “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” 3. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union became legally binding on EU Member States with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. The Charter prohibits discrimination on the grounds of language and places an obligation on the EU to 5 respect linguistic diversity. These provisions form part of the Union’s legal framework and require EU institutions and national governments to ensure that language is not a barrier to participation in EU-supported activities, including research and innovation. The Charter applies to all 27 EU Member States when they implement EU law, and underpins policy efforts to promote multilingualism in science and ensure non-discrimination based on language. ● Article 21 Non-discrimination: “Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.” ● Article 22 Cultural, religious and linguistic diversity: “The Union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.” 4. UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science was adopted at the 41st session of the General Conference of UNESCO in November 2021. It is the first international standardsetting instrument on open science and has been endorsed by all UNESCO Member States. The Recommendation defines open science as an inclusive and equitable framework, explicitly highlighting multilingualism as a key element in ensuring access to scientific knowledge for all. It also promotes inclusion and exchange of scholarly knowledge from traditionally underrepresented or excluded groups (such as women, minorities, indigenous scholars, scholars from less-advantaged countries and low-resource languages). The 194 UNESCO member states are recommended to encourage multilingualism in the practice of science, in scientific publications and in academic communications. ● II. Definition of open science, 6: "For the purpose of this Recommendation, open science is defined as an inclusive construct that combines various movements and practices aiming to make multilingual scientific knowledge openly available, accessible and reusable for everyone, to increase scientific collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of science and society, and to open the processes of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community". ● III. Open Science core values and guiding principles, 13 c Equity and fairness: "open science should play a significant role in ensuring equity among researchers from developed and developing countries, enabling fair and reciprocal sharing of scientific inputs and outputs and equal access to scientific knowledge to both producers and consumers of knowledge regardless of location, nationality, race, age, gender, income, socio-economic circumstances, career stage, discipline, language, religion, disability, ethnicity or migratory status, or any other grounds". ● III. Open Science core values and guiding principles, 13 d Diversity and inclusiveness: “open science should embrace a diversity of knowledge, practices, 6 workflows, languages, research outputs and research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of the scientific community as a whole, diverse research communities and scholars, as well as the wider public and knowledge holders beyond the traditional scientific community, including indigenous peoples and local communities, and social actors from different countries and regions, as appropriate”. ● IV. Areas of action, (I) Promoting a common understanding of open science, associated benefits and challenges, as well as diverse paths to open science, 16 d: “Encouraging multilingualism in the practice of science, in scientific publications and in academic communications". ● IV. Areas of action, (vii) Promoting international and multi-stakeholder cooperation in the context of open science and with a view to reducing digital, technological and knowledge gaps, 22 b: “Promoting and stimulating crossborder multi-stakeholder collaboration on open science, including by leveraging existing transnational, regional and global collaboration mechanisms and organizations. This should include joining efforts towards universal access to the outputs of science, regardless of discipline, geography, gender, ethnicity, language or socioeconomic circumstances or any other grounds, development and use of shared open science infrastructures, as well as technical assistance and transfer of technology, capacity building, repositories, communities of practice and solidarity between all countries regardless of their state of open science development”. 5. G20 Recommendations on inclusion, diversity and combating inequalities in science, technology and innovation G20 Recommendations on inclusion, diversity and combating inequalities in science, technology and innovation were endorsed by the G20 Research and Innovation Ministers in September 2023. The recommendations aim to promote non-discrimination, equity, accessibility, and inclusive participation in science systems, higher education and research careers. The Research and Innovation Ministers of G20 countries, including the European Union (EU) and the African Union, specifically committed to supporting low-resource language users as part of efforts to eliminate systemic biases in research careers and evaluation and to encouraging the use of native languages in science and facilitating the dissemination of science in all languages. ● Recommendation 1: Promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in STI systems by d) “Promoting sustained enabling conditions for persons from historically underserved groups (such as women, underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, scholars from less-advantaged countries and those who use low-resource languages) to consider careers in sciences and working to eliminate biases against them in work 7 environments and performance appraisals";... f) "Encouraging the use of native languages in science and ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities" ● Recommendation 5: Combating inequities in STI by e): "Facilitating the dissemination of science in all languages" 6. UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017) sets out the rights, responsibilities, and working conditions of researchers and the duties of states and institutions to support them. It affirms that scientific systems must uphold cultural diversity and academic freedom, ensure non-discrimination and equal access to scientific careers and participation in scientific life, and promote the widest possible dissemination of scientific knowledge. The recommendation calls on Member States to remove barriers, including linguistic ones, that hinder equitable participation and to ensure that evaluation, recognition and career progression do not disadvantage researchers based on native language. • III. The initial education and training of scientific researchers; 13: To assist the emergence of scientific researchers of this high calibre, Member States should take measures to: (a) ensure that, without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, native language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin, ethnic origin, social origin, economic or social condition of birth, or disability, all citizens enjoy equal opportunities for the initial education and training needed to qualify for research and development careers, as well as ensuring that all citizens who succeed in so qualifying enjoy equal access to available employment in scientific research; • V. conditions for success on the part of scientific researchers; 24: Member States should: (b) ensure that scientific researchers enjoy equitable conditions of work, recruitment and promotion, appraisal, training and pay without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, descent, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, native language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin, ethnic origin, social origin, economic or social condition of birth, or disability; 7. Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe Council Recommendation on Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe (2021) sets out common values and principles for R&I in the European Union and defines priority areas for joint action that Member States may voluntarily take up to advance the European Research Area (ERA). ERA actions are designed on this basis to align national reforms with EU-level objectives. Under “Deepening a truly functioning internal market for knowledge,” the Pact prioritises Open Science—to support and reward an open culture, mainstream open access to publications and data (“as open as possible, as closed as necessary”), build skills and 8 infrastructures, and consider disciplinary and cultural differences, including multilingualism. • II Priority areas for joint action in the Union 2; (a) Open science: “Support and reward a true open science culture across the Union, including mainstreaming open access to scholarly publications and research data (i.e. following the “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” principle) and the diffusion and uptake of open science principles and practices, whilst considering differences between disciplines and cultural differences, including multilingualism, supporting the development of open science skills, and further developing and integrating the underpinning digital infrastructure and services.” 8. European Charter for Researchers The European Charter for Researchers, established in 2025 and updated in the Council Recommendation of 18 December 2023, outlines principles for attractive and sustainable research careers within the European Research Area (ERA). While the Recommendation itself is not legally binding, it has been formally adopted by all 27 EU Member States, who are encouraged to align national policies with its principles, including the reduction of language barriers for researchers. The European Commission grants HR Excellence in Research award to research-performing organisations that implement the Charter and its companion Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. Over 700 institutions across Europe and beyond have received the HR Excellence label, and are thereby committed to non-discrimination based on language in researcher recruitment, evaluation, and professional development. ● 2005 General principles and requirements applicable to employers and funders, Non-discrimination: “Employers and/or funders of researchers will not discriminate against researchers in any way on the basis of gender, age, ethnic, national or social origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, language, disability, political opinion, social or economic condition.” ● 2023 Pillar 2 – researchers’ assessment, recruitment and progression, 3 Selection, Non-discrimination: “Employers and funders of researchers should not discriminate against researchers in any way based on gender, age, ethnic, national or social origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, language, disability, political opinion, social or economic condition.” 9. Council conclusions on research assessment and implementation of open science Council Conclusions on Research Assessment and the Implementation of Open Science, adopted by the Council of the European Union in 2022, outline the political priorities of EU Member States for reforming research assessment and promoting open, inclusive research systems. These conclusions, while not legally binding, carry significant weight as they 9 represent the collective political will of all 27 EU Member States and help shape EU-wide and national research policies. The Conclusions explicitly acknowledge the importance of multilingualism in the context of science communication with society, particularly at the national and regional levels, providing a clear political mandate for encouraging where appropriate, the use of multilingualism for the purpose of wider communication of European research results. ● III. Development of multilingualism for European scholarly publications, 27: “EMPHASISES that one of the main goals of Open Science is to increase the dissemination and impact of scientific research results; NOTES that English has become the lingua franca for international scientific cross-border collaboration and for communication in many scientific communities; CONSIDERS that reaching nonacademic audiences may require dedicated publishing formats, written in less technical language, and ACKNOWLEDGES the important role of multilingualism in the context of science communication with society, in particular on the national and regional levels; in this respect, WELCOMES initiatives to promote multilingualism, such as the Helsinki initiative on multilingualism in scholarly communication.” 10. CLACSO–FOLEC Declaration of Principles Declaration of Principles: New research assessment towards a socially relevant science in Latin America and the Caribbean, published in 2022 by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Latin American Forum for Research Evaluation (FOLEC), proposes a transformative approach to research assessment that reflects the social, cultural, and linguistic realities of the region. The declaration has been endorsed by a growing number of institutions in the region and serves as a guiding framework for aligning assessment systems with principles of equity, relevance, and diversity. The document explicitly states that publishing in English should not be inherently valued over publications in other languages and declares the use of citation indicators derived from databases with limited linguistic coverage invalid. ● Principle 8: “Writing in English does not confer a merit per se superior to publications in other languages. Multilingualism favors the development of socially relevant research and contributes to sustaining cultural diversity. We endorse the Helsinki Initiative on Multilingualism in Scholarly Communication.” ● Principle 14: The citation indicators extracted from the databases limited in their geographical, linguistic and disciplinary scope should not be considered a valid measure to carry out comparison of scientific production between individuals, institutions or countries. It is necessary to promote the creation and the use of databases which reflect both the production disseminated in international repositories as well as that which is included in regional and local databases. 16 • Tampere University (TAU), Finland • TOUR4EU Tuscan Organisation of Universities in Europe (TOUR4EU), Italy • translatE network on language barriers in environmental sciences, University of Queensland, Australia • UNESCO Chair on Open Science, University of Montréal, Canada • Università degli Studi di Milano (UMI), Italy • Università di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy • Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain • Universities Norway (UHR), Norway • University of Antwerp, (UAntwerp), Belgium • University of Jyväskylä, Finland • University of Leiden (LEI), Netherlands • University of Lleida • University of Turku (UTU), Finland • University of Warwick • University Paris Nanterre, France 17 Please cite as: Pölönen, J. & Peruginelli, G. (2025). Checklist of multilingualism policies and initiatives. CoARA WG on Multilingualism and Language Biases in Research Assessment. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17876612 Document Information Output Title Checklist of multilingualism policies and initiatives Working Group Multilingualism and Language Biases in Research Assessment Topic Draft Version 2.0 Publication Date 10 December 2025 Output Type Annex to the Implementation proposal for Language-aware Assessments: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17881907 Producer(s) Working Group on Multilingualism and Language Biases in Research Assessment Project Leader(s) Martine Garnier-Rizet, Gian-Maria Greco, Emanuel Kulczycki, and Janne Pölönen Editor(s) Janne Pölönen Reviewer(s) Ginevra Peruginelli and Emanuel Kulczycki Other contributors Petteri Laihonen Status Final Revision history Version Date Revised by Comments 1.0 09-05-2025 Janne Pölönen First draft 2.0 10-12-2025 Janne Pölönen Final version