Excellence in Research for Australia
Encyclopedia
Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) is a research management initiative of the Australian Rudd Government
being developed by the Australian Research Council
(ARC).
It replaces the Research Quality Framework
that was developed by the Howard Government
.
In addition to the Higher Education Research Data Collection
, which collects statistics about research in Australia, the ERA collected itemised data, with all research classified according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
' Field of Research (FOR) classification scheme
.
For the 2012 data collection, the clusters were changed. The SBE cluster was split into two new EHS and EC clusters, and the BCH and PAH clusters were merged to form a "Medical and Health Sciences" cluster.
The Field of Research codes are distributed into the following eight clusters:
In 2010, institutions were required to submit data for all eight clusters between June 1–18.
On 25 October 2010 the government announced that ERA data will be collected again in 2012.
After the publication of its draft rankings, ERA introduced a form aimed at all scholars who wished to put a journal forward for the list. There were just three conditions for such a proposal: that the journal be "a scholarly, peer reviewed journal with an ISSN", that the person making the proposal state whether he/she was a member of the editorial board, and that the decision remain at ARC’s discretion. This consultation procedure led to a significant increase in the number of journals in the final list: for example, SSH journals went from 10,241 to 12,976. The percentage distributions were not recalled and not adhered to in the final list which was released on 9 February 2010, though the proportion of A* and A journals did not correlate directly with the performance of different disciplines.
The ARC stipulated that Scopus
will be the citation and bibliometrics
provider for 2010.
These journal rankings (A*, A, B, C) will not be used for the 2012 ERA process.
Conferences are only ranked within the following Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification
Fields of Research:
As with journal rankings, a prescribed distribution has not been mandated by the ARC. The Deakin ERA Journal Rankings Access website has been expanded and renamed the ERA Outlets Rankings Access website.
Rudd Government
The Rudd Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia of the Australian Labor Party from 2007 to 2010, led by Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. The Rudd Government commenced on 3 December 2007, when Rudd was sworn in along with his ministry...
being developed by the Australian Research Council
Australian Research Council
The Australian Research Council is the Australian Government’s main agency for allocating research funding to academics and researchers in Australian universities. Its mission is to advance Australia’s capacity to undertake research that brings economic, social and cultural benefit to the...
(ARC).
It replaces the Research Quality Framework
Research Quality Framework
Research Quality Framework was a component of Backing Australia's Ability, an initiative of the Australian Government to formulate a best practice framework for assessing research quality and the impact of research, and ensure that public funding was being invested in research which would deliver...
that was developed by the Howard Government
Howard Government
The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government...
.
In addition to the Higher Education Research Data Collection
Higher Education Research Data Collection
Higher Education Research Data Collection is the annual collection of statistics from Australian universities about research output and income...
, which collects statistics about research in Australia, the ERA collected itemised data, with all research classified according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
' Field of Research (FOR) classification scheme
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification is a set of three classifications developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to measure and analyse of research and development undertaken in Australia and New Zealand. It replaced the Australian Standard Research Classification ...
.
Clusters
For the 2010 data collection, the Field of Research codes are distributed into the following eight clusters:- Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE)
- Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA)
- Engineering and Environmental Sciences (EE)
- Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE)
- Mathematical, Information and Computing Sciences (MIC)
- Biological and Biotechnological Sciences (BB)
- Biomedical and Clinical Health Sciences (BCH)
- Public and Allied Health Sciences (PAH)
For the 2012 data collection, the clusters were changed. The SBE cluster was split into two new EHS and EC clusters, and the BCH and PAH clusters were merged to form a "Medical and Health Sciences" cluster.
The Field of Research codes are distributed into the following eight clusters:
- Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) - no changes
- Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) - 1202 and 1204 added
- Engineering and Environmental Sciences (EE) - 1202 and 1204 removed; 1005-1099 added
- Education and Human Society (EHS)
- Economics and Commerce (EC)
- Mathematical, Information and Computing Sciences (MIC) - 1005-1099 removed
- Biological and Biotechnological Sciences (BB) - no changes
- Medical and Health Sciences (MHS) - combines clusters BCH and PAH, and 1004 and 17
Institutions
The following institutions are deemed eligible to submit data to the government as part of the ERA initiative.- Australian Catholic UniversityAustralian Catholic UniversityAustralian Catholic University is a national public university. It has six campuses and offers programs in five faculties throughout Australia.-History:...
- Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary EducationBatchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary EducationBatchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education provides training and further education , and higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is based in Batchelor, Northern Territory in Australia...
- Bond UniversityBond UniversityBond University is a private university located in Robina, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is also the first private university established in Australia...
- Central Queensland UniversityCentral Queensland UniversityCQUniversity is an Australian public university based in Queensland. Its main campus is in North Rockhampton Queensland. However, it also has campuses in Bundaberg, Emerald, Gladstone and Mackay, as well as operations throughout Asia-Pacific. For instance, Melior Business School is one of its...
- Charles Darwin UniversityCharles Darwin UniversityCharles Darwin University is an Australian public university with about 20,000 students in 2007.The University offers a wide range of Higher Education degrees and Vocational Education and Training courses with flexible study options, including part-time, external and online.CDU has campuses in the...
- Charles Sturt UniversityCharles Sturt UniversityCharles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus university located in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Goulburn, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Burlington, Ontario...
- Curtin University
- Deakin UniversityDeakin UniversityDeakin University is an Australian public university with nearly 40,000 higher education students in 2010. It receives more than A$600 million in operating revenue annually, and controls more than A$1.3 billion in assets. It received more than A$35 million in research income in 2009 and had 835...
- Edith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
- Flinders UniversityFlinders UniversityFlinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...
- Griffith UniversityGriffith UniversityGriffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
- James Cook UniversityJames Cook UniversityJames Cook University is a public university based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The university has two Australian campuses, located in Townsville and Cairns respectively, and an international campus in Singapore. JCU is the second oldest university in Queensland—proclaimed in 1970—and the...
- La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe UniversityLa Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
- Macquarie UniversityMacquarie UniversityMacquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
- Melbourne College of DivinityMelbourne College of DivinityThe Melbourne College of Divinity is a theological education organisation located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.The MCD is an ecumenical consortium of a number of theological colleges from a number of denominations...
- Monash UniversityMonash UniversityMonash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
- Murdoch UniversityMurdoch UniversityMurdoch University is a public university based in Perth, Australia. It began operations as the state's second university in 1973, and accepted its first students in 1975...
- Queensland University of TechnologyQueensland University of TechnologyQueensland University of Technology is an Australian university with an applied emphasis in courses and research. Based in Brisbane, it has 40,000 students, including 6,000 international students, over 4,000 staff members, and an annual budget of more than A$750 million.QUT is marketed as "A...
- RMIT UniversityRMIT UniversityRMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
- Southern Cross UniversitySouthern Cross UniversitySouthern Cross University is a university based on the North and Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is a regional University with more than 14,000 students. The University's primary campus is in Lismore, with other campuses located at Coffs Harbour and Tweed Heads.The University is...
- Swinburne University of TechnologySwinburne University of TechnologySwinburne University of Technology is an Australian public dual sector university based in Melbourne, Victoria. The institution was founded by the Honourable George Swinburne in 1908 and achieved university status in June 1992...
- The Australian National University
- The University of Adelaide
- The University of Melbourne
- The University of New England
- The University of New South Wales
- The University of NewcastleUniversity of Newcastle, AustraliaThe University of Newcastle is an Australian public university that was established in 1965. The University's main and largest campus is located in Callaghan, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales...
- The University of Notre Dame Australia
- The University of Queensland
- The University of Sydney
- The University of the Sunshine Coast
- The University of Western Australia
- University of BallaratUniversity of BallaratThe University of Ballarat is a dual-sector university in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It was formed by the passage of an Act of the Victorian Parliament in 1994, from the Ballarat College of Advanced Education...
- University of CanberraUniversity of CanberraOver the years the Stone Day program has gradually become larger and larger, taking up a whole week and now Stonefest is one of Australia's most popular music festivals. The first foundation celebrations were held in 1971. In 1973 Stone Day celebrations were held over two days, which was expanded...
- University of South AustraliaUniversity of South AustraliaThe University of South Australia is a public university in the Australian state of South Australia. It was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and Colleges of Advanced Education. It is the largest university in South Australia, with more than 36,000...
- University of Southern QueenslandUniversity of Southern QueenslandThe University of Southern Queensland is based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. The institution was established in 1967 as the Queensland Institute of Technology...
- University of TasmaniaUniversity of TasmaniaThe University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...
(incorporating Australian Maritime CollegeAustralian Maritime CollegeThe Australian Maritime College is a tertiary education institution based in Launceston, Tasmania and is an institute of the University of Tasmania. AMC is Australia's national centre for maritime education, training and research...
) - University of Technology, SydneyUniversity of Technology, SydneyThe University of Technology Sydney is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1981, although its origins trace back to the 1870s. UTS is notable for its central location as the only university with its main campuses within the Sydney CBD...
- University of Western SydneyUniversity of Western SydneyThe University of Western Sydney, also known as UWS, is a multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
- University of WollongongUniversity of WollongongThe University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney...
- Victoria UniversityVictoria University, AustraliaVictoria University is a multi-sector tertiary institution based in Melbourne, Australia with 10 campuses.VU offers qualifications in higher education, vocational education , and short courses...
Ratings
Following the ARC report The Australian newspaper compiled a list of rankings based on the ERA scores. The following table lists the top 15 universities. The validity of these rankings is not supported by the ARC. The ARC specifically advised that it is not possible to add or average scores from the ERA report to derive overall rankings for institutions.- C1-C8 refer to the clusters provided above.
| University | C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | C5 | C6 | C7 | C8 | Average Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian National University Australian National University The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students... |
4.7 | 4.6 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.38 |
| University of Melbourne University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria... |
4.7 | 4.5 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4.33 |
| University of Queensland University of Queensland The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation... |
4.3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 5 | 4 | 4.17 |
| University of New South Wales University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia... |
4 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4.04 |
| University of Sydney University of Sydney The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania... |
4 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3.83 |
| University of Western Australia University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the... |
3.7 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3.64 |
| University of Adelaide University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia... |
4.3 | 3.5 | 4 | 2.4 | 3 | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 3.55 |
| Monash University Monash University Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL.... |
4 | 3.7 | 5 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3.45 |
| Macquarie University Macquarie University Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney... |
4.3 | 3 | 4 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3.24 |
| Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology is an Australian university with an applied emphasis in courses and research. Based in Brisbane, it has 40,000 students, including 6,000 international students, over 4,000 staff members, and an annual budget of more than A$750 million.QUT is marketed as "A... |
3.7 | 3 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3.09 |
| Griffith University Griffith University Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current... |
4 | 3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Melbourne College of Divinity Melbourne College of Divinity The Melbourne College of Divinity is a theological education organisation located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.The MCD is an ecumenical consortium of a number of theological colleges from a number of denominations... |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| University of Technology Sydney | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2.95 |
| University of Tasmania University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia... |
4 | 2.8 | 3 | 1.8 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 2 | 2.81 |
| University of Newcastle University of Newcastle, Australia The University of Newcastle is an Australian public university that was established in 1965. The University's main and largest campus is located in Callaghan, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales... |
3 | 3.4 | 3 | 1.6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2.71 |
| University of Wollongong University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney... |
3.7 | 3.4 | 3 | 1.6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2.71 |
Collections
In 2009, two trials were conducted for the clusters "Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences" (PCE) and "Humanities and Creative Arts" (HCA), and reports have been published using this data.In 2010, institutions were required to submit data for all eight clusters between June 1–18.
On 25 October 2010 the government announced that ERA data will be collected again in 2012.
Journal lists
The ARC has compiled a list of journals that will be included in the annual review, and initially stated that these journals would be ranked using the following "four tiers of quality rating":- A* (top 5%): "Virtually all papers they publish will be of a very high quality"
- A (next 15%): "The majority of papers in a Tier A journal will be of very high quality"
- B (next 30%): "Generally, in a Tier B journal, one would expect only a few papers of very high quality"
- C (next 50%): Journals "that do not meet the criteria of higher tiers".
After the publication of its draft rankings, ERA introduced a form aimed at all scholars who wished to put a journal forward for the list. There were just three conditions for such a proposal: that the journal be "a scholarly, peer reviewed journal with an ISSN", that the person making the proposal state whether he/she was a member of the editorial board, and that the decision remain at ARC’s discretion. This consultation procedure led to a significant increase in the number of journals in the final list: for example, SSH journals went from 10,241 to 12,976. The percentage distributions were not recalled and not adhered to in the final list which was released on 9 February 2010, though the proportion of A* and A journals did not correlate directly with the performance of different disciplines.
The ARC stipulated that Scopus
Scopus
Scopus, officially named SciVerse Scopus, is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles. It covers nearly 18,000 titles from over 5,000 international publishers, including coverage of 16,500 peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical,...
will be the citation and bibliometrics
Bibliometrics
Bibliometrics is a set of methods to quantitatively analyze scientific and technological literature. Citation analysis and content analysis are commonly used bibliometric methods...
provider for 2010.
These journal rankings (A*, A, B, C) will not be used for the 2012 ERA process.
Conference lists
The list of conference rankings was released in December 2009. Conferences have only a three level ranking scheme: A, B, or C.Conferences are only ranked within the following Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification is a set of three classifications developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to measure and analyse of research and development undertaken in Australia and New Zealand. It replaced the Australian Standard Research Classification ...
Fields of Research:
- 08: Information and Computing Sciences
- 09: Engineering
- 10: Technology
- 12: Built Environment and Design
As with journal rankings, a prescribed distribution has not been mandated by the ARC. The Deakin ERA Journal Rankings Access website has been expanded and renamed the ERA Outlets Rankings Access website.
External links
- Australian University Rankings
- ERA Outlets Ranking Access, John Lamp, Deakin UniversityDeakin UniversityDeakin University is an Australian public university with nearly 40,000 higher education students in 2010. It receives more than A$600 million in operating revenue annually, and controls more than A$1.3 billion in assets. It received more than A$35 million in research income in 2009 and had 835...
- ERA 2010 report, Australian Research Council