Publication patterns of award-winning forest scientists and implications for the ERA journal ranking

Publication patterns of 79 forest scientists awarded major international forestry prizes during 1990-2010 were compared with the journal classification and ranking promoted as part of the 'Excellence in Research for Australia' (ERA) by the Australian Research Council. The data revealed that these scientists exhibited an elite publication performance during the decade before and two decades following their first major award. An analysis of their 1703 articles in 431 journals revealed substantial differences between the journal choices of these elite scientists and the ERA classification and ranking of journals. Implications from these findings are that additional cross-classifications should be added for many journals, and there should be an adjustment to the ranking of several journals relevant to the ERA Field of Research classified as 0705 Forestry Sciences.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, 49 references; Journal of Informetrics (2011

Wiley Journal Package: UNL Download Activity by Subject

Because the field of librarianship has been reconsidering its relationship to commercial academic publishers and their \u27Big Deal\u27 journal packages, the authors decided to review the University of Nebraska-Lincoln\u27s usage of Wiley\u27s package. In this report, the authors looked into whether UNL\u27s downloads by subject were such that subscribing to a number of hypothetical smaller, subject-specific packages, rather than to the entire Wiley package, might be a viable strategy

Assessing evaluation procedures for individual researchers: the case of the Italian National Scientific Qualification

The Italian National Scientific Qualification (ASN) was introduced as a prerequisite for applying for tenured associate or full professor positions at state-recognized universities. The ASN is meant to attest that an individual has reached a suitable level of scientific maturity to apply for professorship positions. A five member panel, appointed for each scientific discipline, is in charge of evaluating applicants by means of quantitative indicators of impact and productivity, and through an assessment of their research profile. Many concerns were raised on the appropriateness of the evaluation criteria, and in particular on the use of bibliometrics for the evaluation of individual researchers. Additional concerns were related to the perceived poor quality of the final evaluation reports. In this paper we assess the ASN in terms of appropriateness of the applied methodology, and the quality of the feedback provided to the applicants. We argue that the ASN is not fully compliant with the best practices for the use of bibliometric indicators for the evaluation of individual researchers; moreover, the quality of final reports varies considerably across the panels, suggesting that measures should be put in place to prevent sloppy practices in future ASN rounds

Classifying Australian PhD bibliographic thesis records by ANZSRC field of research codes

This report provides a brief report detailing the methods and approach used to classify the 2007-2009 theses by ANZSRC Fields of Research codes and any recommendations

Research engagement for Australia: measuring research engagement between universities and end users

ATSE believes that realising the benefits of Australia’s world-class research system requires translation of its outputs into economic and societal benefits.The effective translation of research will be at the core of Australia’s future competitiveness and prosperity. Background The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) advocates for a future in which technology, engineering and innovation contribute significantly to Australia’s social, economic and environmental wellbeing. The Academy is empowered in its mission by some 800 Fellows drawn from industry, academia, research institutes and government, who represent the brightest and the best in technological sciences and engineering in Australia. The Academy provides robust, independent and trusted evidence-based advice on technological issues of national importance. ATSE fosters national and international collaboration and encourages technology transfer for economic, social and environmental benefit. ATSE believes that realising the benefits of Australia’s world-class research system requires translation of its outputs into economic and societal benefits. The effective translation of research will be at the core of Australia’s future competitiveness and prosperity. Australia undertakes world-class scientific research through universities and other publicly funded research organisations, such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). In the Australian university sector, there are effective financial and prestige incentives that focus researchers on producing high quality publications. Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) encourages a focus on research publication by evaluating research using indicators such as peer review and citation metrics. The Federal Government’s Department of Education and Training rewards this by allocating approximately $65 million per annum based in part on ERA outcomes through the Research Block Grants (RBG). The behaviours that ERA drives in our university sector have been even greater than might be anticipated from this small amount of funding, demonstrating that a metrics-based approach can achieve important behavioural change. While research excellence is desirable in its own right, it is not a sufficient driver of innovation and is only one dimension of the research endeavour. A focus on research excellence is often at the expense of other important activities such as university collaborations with the private and public sectors, entrepreneurial behaviour and knowledge transfer. Indeed, OECD data show that Australian universities and publicly funded research institutes and industry in Australia are less engaged in collaboration than their counterparts in other countries. This is of particular concern for Australia given around 58 per cent of our researchers are employed in the higher education sector

Quantitative Analysis of the Italian National Scientific Qualification

The Italian National Scientific Qualification (ASN) was introduced in 2010 as part of a major reform of the national university system. Under the new regulation, the scientific qualification for a specific role (associate or full professor) and field of study is required to apply to a permanent professor position. The ASN is peculiar since it makes use of bibliometric indicators with associated thresholds as one of the parameters used to assess applicants. Overall, more than 59000 applications were submitted, and the results have been made publicly available for a short period of time, including the values of the quantitative indicators for each applicant. The availability of this wealth of information provides an opportunity to draw a fairly detailed picture of a nation-wide evaluation exercise, and to study the impact of the bibliometric indicators on the qualification results. In this paper we provide a first account of the Italian ASN from a quantitative point of view. We show that significant differences exist among scientific disciplines, in particular with respect to the fraction of qualified applicants, that can not be easily explained. Furthermore, we describe some issues related to the definition and use of the bibliometric indicators and thresholds. Our analysis aims at drawing attention to potential problems that should be addressed by decision-makers in future ASN rounds.Comment: ISSN 1751-157

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) sebagai bagan klasifikasi untuk institutional repository

A classification scheme has an important function in the organization of information. In its hierarchical structure, the classification chart can help users search for documents or items stored in an online database or repository through common subjects to more specific sub-subjects. Searching in this way will have significant benefits if the classification chart used is sufficiently adequate as a means of classifying documents or scientific work items stored in a repository. In this article the author will discuss the potential of Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) to serve as a classification chart in the repository; Advantages and disadvantages of ANZSRC in its function as a classification chart; Strategy for implementing ANZSRC as a classification chart in the repository; etc