How to measure research excellence

A Seminar on "RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AND PUBLICATION METRICS - THE BEGINNING OR END OF AN ERA?" will be held at ANU, 18 October 2010. In my view the answer to this is reasonably obvious. As research publishing goes online it will evolve to include social networking techniques, which can measure the ranking of people based on peer assessment. Essentially the current publication metrics are a crude form of such rankings, but these can be improved, refined and made much cheaper and more audit-able. There is now a credible body of research literature on this topic, but which is unknown to all but a few IT researchers. An example of how to do this is Soo Ling Lim's work, reported at ANU on Thursday: "Using Social Networks to Identify and Prioritise Software Project Stakeholders".

Emeritus Faculty Seminar

Monday 18 October 2010

4.15pm – 6.15pm, Haydon Allen Tank

RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AND PUBLICATION METRICS - THE BEGINNING OR END OF AN ERA?

How is research excellence measured and evaluated? What are its key signs and indicators? The Australian Research Council Excellence in Research for Australia scheme (ERA) has now received 350,000 research outputs nationally from universities, the assessment of which is likely to flow through in future years in budget allocations.

The long term effect of evaluations on scholarly publishing and communication, for example, through citation measurements, ERA journal rankings and university league tables, have yet to be assessed both for institutions and individual researchers. How accurate a system of measurement is ERA likely to provide: what are its probable strengths, and what are its possible flaws and shortcomings? What impact is ERA likely to have on Australian universities, its researchers and publishers?

The seminar below, hosted by the ANU’s Emeritus Faculty, is open to all on campus. The speakers will address the main issues but allowing maximum time for questions and audience interaction.

Chair: John Molony, Chair Emeritus Faculty, ANU

Overview: Research Excellence Evaluation.
Colin Steele, Emeritus Fellow, ANU.

The Australian Research Council -ERA National Perspectives.

Andrew Calder, Director, Research Performance and Analysis, ARC.

The ANU Experience.

John Wellard, Director ANU Research Office.

Perverse and Beneficial 0utcomes From Research Assessment

Professor Andrew Cockburn, Director, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU.

Scholarly Publishing Economics: an International Research Perspective.
Professor John Houghton, Victoria University.

Future Publishing Metrics – The Way Forward?

Dr Danny Kingsley, Manager Scholarly Communications, ANU.

Research Impact – the Wider Dimension.

Dr Claire Donovan, Lecturer in Sociology, ANU. ...