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Organizational roles and responsibilities
Activities of those on the Management Committee may involve a combination of the following (although you can choose your focus):
- Contributing to the decision-making process regarding research focus, reviewer assignment, and prize distribution.
- Collaborating with other committee members on the establishment of rules and guidelines, such as determining the metrics for research evaluation and defining the mode of assessment publication.
- Helping plan The Unjournal’s future path.
- Helping monitor and prioritize research for The Unjournal to evaluate (i.e., acting as a Field Specialist; see further discussion below). Acting as an evaluation manager for research in your area.
Time commitment: A minimum of 15-20 hours per year.
Compensation: We have funding for a $57.50 per hour honorarium for the first 20 hours, with possible compensation for additional work. Evaluation management work will be further compensated (at roughly $300–$450 per paper).
Who we are looking for: All applicants are welcome. We are especially interested in those involved in global priorities research (and related fields), policy research and practice, open science and meta-science, bibliometrics and scholarly publishing, and any other academic research. We want individuals with a solid interest in The Unjournal project and its goals, and the ability to meet the minimal time commitment. Applying is extremely quick, and those not chosen will be considered for other roles and work going forward.
Beyond direct roles within The Unjournal, we're building a larger, more passive advisory board to be part of our network, to offer occasional feedback and guidance, and to act as an evaluation manager when needed (see our evaluation workflow).
There is essentially no minimum time commitment for Advisory Board members—only opportunities to engage. We sketch some of the expectations in the fold below.
As an Advisory Board member...
- you agree to be listed on our page as being on the advisory board.
- you have the option (but not the expectation or requirement) to join our Slack, and to check in once in a while.
- you will be looped in for your input on some decisions surrounding The Unjournal's policies and direction. Such communucations might occur once per month, and you are not obligated to respond. (This will probably be accomplished through the Loomio.com tool.)
- you may be invited to occasional video meetings (again optional).
- you are “in our system” and we may consult you for other work.
- you will be compensated for anything that requires a substantial amount of your time that does not overlap with your regular work.
We are currently prioritizing bringing in more Field Specialists to build our teams in a few areas, particularly including:
- Catastrophic risks, AI governance and safety
- Animal welfare: markets, attitudes
As well as:
- Quantitative political science (voting, lobbying, attitudes)
- Social impact of AI/emerging technologies
- Macro/growth, finance, public finance
- Long term trends and demographics
FSs will focus on a particular area of research, policy, or impactful outcome. They will keep track of new or under-considered research with potential for impact and explain and assess the extent to which The Unjournal can add value by commissioning its evaluation. They will "curate" this research and may also serve as evaluation managers for this work.
Some Advisory Board members will also be FSs, although some may not (e.g., because they don't have a relevant research focus).
Time commitment: There is no specific time obligation—only opportunities to engage. We may also consult you occasionally on your areas of expertise. Perhaps 1–4 hours a month is a reasonable starting expectation for people already involved in doing or using research, plus potential additional paid assignments.
Compensation: We are putting together a compensation formula; we aim to fairly compensate people for time spent on work done to support The Unjournal, and to provide incentives for suggesting and helping to prioritize research for evaluation. In addition, evaluation management work will be compensated at roughly $300–$450 per project.
Who we are looking for: For the FS roles, we are seeking active researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders with a strong publication record and/or involvement in the research and/or research-linked policy and prioritization processes. For the Advisory Board, also people with connections to academic, governmental, or relevant non-profit institutions, and/or involvement in open science, publication, and research evaluation processes. People who can offer relevant advice, experience, guidance, or help communicate our goals, processes, and progress.
You will be asked to fill out this survey to let us know what fields, topics, and sources of research you would like to "monitor" or dig into to help identify and curate work relevant for Unjournal evaluation, as well as outlining your areas of expertise (the form takes perhaps 5–20 minutes).
This survey helps us understand when to contact you to ask if you want to be an evaluation manager on a paper we have prioritized for evaluation.
Guided by this survey form (along with discussions we will have with you, and coordination with the team), we will develop an “assignment” that specifies the area you will be covering. We will try to divide the space and not overlap between field specialists. This scope can be as broad or focused as you like.
Within your area, you keep a record of the research that seems relevant (and why, and what particularly needs evaluation, etc.) and enter it in our database. (Alternatively, you can pass your notes to us for recording.)
We will compensate you for the time you spend on this process (details tbd), particularly to the extent that the time you spend does not contribute to your other work or research.
We are organizing several teams of field specialists (and management and advisory board members). These teams will hold occasional online meetings (perhaps every 3 months) to discuss research to prioritize, and to help coordinate 'who covers what'. If team members are interested, further discussions, meetings, and seminars might be arranged, but this is very much optional.
As of 25 Oct 2023, we have put together the following teams (organized around fields and outcomes)
- 1.Development economics (not health-focused)
- 2.Global health and development 'health-related' outcomes and interventions in LMIC
- 3.Economics, welfare, and governance
- 4.Psychology, behavioral science, and attitudes
- 5.Innovation and meta-science
- 6.Environmental economics
Other teams are being organized (and we are particularly recruiting field specialists with interests and expertise in these areas):
- Catastrophic risks, AI governance and safety
- Animal welfare: markets, attitudes
- Quantitative political science (voting, lobbying, attitudes)
- The social impact of AI/emerging technologies
- Macro/growth, finance, public finance
- Long-term trends and demographics
The Unjournal's Field Specialists choose an area they want to "monitor". By this we mean that a field specialist will
- Keep an eye on designated sources (e.g., particular working paper series) and fields (or outcomes or area codes), perhaps every month or so; consider new work, dig into archives
- Let us know what you have been able to cover; if you need to reduce the scope, we can adjust it
- Suggest/Input work into our database … papers/projects/research that seems relevant for The Unjournal to evaluate. Give some quick ‘prioritization ratings’
- If you have time, give a brief on why this work relevant for UJ (impactful, credible, timely, open presentation, policy-relevant, etc) and what areas need particular evaluation and feedback
If you are interested in discussing any of the above in person, please email us ([email protected]) to arrange a conversation.
We invite you to fill in this form (the same as that linked above) to leave your contact information and outline which parts of the project interest you.
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