The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Initiative

On 26 February 2008, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, the Hon. Senator Kim Carr, announced the new research quality and evaluation system.

The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative will be developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in consultation with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). It will assess research quality within Australia’s higher education institutions using a combination of metrics based indicators and expert review.

The new framework aims to:

• identify excellence across the full spectrum of research activity;
• compare Australia’s university research effort against international benchmarks;
• create incentives to improve the quality of research; and
• identify emerging research areas and opportunities for further development.

Evaluations will take place in the following discipline clusters:

• Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE);
• Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA);
• Engineering and Environmental Sciences (EE);
• Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE);
• Mathematics, Information and Communication Sciences (MIC);
• Biological Sciences and Biotechnology (BSB);
• Biomedical and Clinical Research (BCR); and
• Public and Allied Health and Health Services (PAHHS).

The unit of evaluation for ERA will be research disciplines within an institution, classified by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), Field of Research (FoR) codes at both two-digit (22 Divisions) and four-digit (157 Groups) level where relevant.

The consultation paper has now been released and submissions in response to this paper will be received by the ARC until COB 30 June 2008.  A pro-forma for submission responses is also available.

The ERA initiative will use a range of indicators and other proxies to support the evaluation of research excellence. The ARC is now seeking feedback from the sector to assist with the development of research journal rankings. Submissions will close COB on Thursday 24 July, 2008. See journal rankings outlets consultation files.

More about ERA:

• Consultation paper
• ANZSRC FoR codes
• ERA Presentations (ARC CEO):
  • 11th March 08 - Higher Eductation Summit
  • 27th March 08 - DVCR Meeting
  • 2nd April 08 - Thomson Scientific
• Consultation on the Research Outlet Rankings

ERA at the ANU

Contacts: