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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the reference period for ERA 2012?

The reference period for ERA 2012 is 2005-2010 for all outputs and 2008 – 2010 for all other measures. Research outputs published outside of this six year period will not be included in the ERA submission.

I started working at the University recently, are my publications from my previous institution eligible?

If you were employed by the University as of the 31st March 2011, all you publications for the period 2005 – 2010 are eligible, including outputs published while you were affiliated with another institution.

I am an honorary staff member, are my publications eligible?

For honorary staff (including conjoint, adjunct, and emeritus staff), only publications on which there is a publication association with the University are eligible. That is, only publications where the University is named as your affiliation in the by-line are eligible.

I am a general staff member, are my publications eligible?

Yes. If you were employed by the University in the applicable period, and you are or have been research-active, your publications are eligible for ERA. If a current academic staff member is a co-author on all your outputs, then we will capture those publications through that person. If you are the sole Southern Cross University author on any of your outputs, then it is important that we capture your publications.

What happens if my research is interdisciplinary, and appears in journals in different clusters?

This is not a problem, and will be the case for many researchers. Each publication will be evaluated in the appropriate cluster, according to the journal it is published in, and there is no limit to the number of clusters that a researcher's outputs can appear in.

What are the refinements for ERA 2012?

On 30 May 2011, Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, announced improvements to the ERA methodology, based on feedback received and experience gained from the ERA 2010 evaluations. These are:

  • The withdrawal of the Ranked Outlets indicator and the introduction of a refined journal indicator that does not use prescriptive ranks.
  • Improved capability to accommodate interdisciplinary research – in an extension of the arrangement successfully trialled in 2010 for the mathematical sciences, institutions will be permitted to code a journal article with significant content (66% or greater) not represented by the journal's FoR(s) to the FoR code that best describes the content. .
  • For peer review disciplines, an increase in the low volume threshold to 50 apportioned weighted outputs, bringing it in line with the threshold for citation disciplines (50 apportioned indexed articles). .
  • A change in the rules for the attribution of patents, plant breeders' rights and registered designs to allow them to be submitted when they are granted to eligible researchers (as well as when they are granted to institutions). .
  • The modification of fractional staff eligibility requirements so that staff employed at 0.4 FTE or greater are automatically eligible, while staff below this threshold are eligible where affiliation is shown (through use of a by-line, for instance). .

In addition, the ARC is exploring ways to strengthen the peer review process.

Why are the changes being made now?

The first full round of ERA was completed in late 2010 and the results were published in early 2011. Following the completion of two public consultations in preparation for ERA 2012, the ARC has had the opportunity to consider options for refining the ERA methodology based upon the experience gained from the first full round of ERA evaluations and subsequent feedback.

What is the change to the journal indicator?

During the ERA 2012 evaluation, REC members will be provided with the new journal indicator, which will replace the ranked journal indicator used in the ERA 2010 evaluation. The new indicator will display, for each unit of evaluation, a table listing all of the journals in which the articles submitted to that UoE are published.

Journals in this table will be ordered by the number of articles, such that the journal containing the greatest number of articles for that university's UoE will appear at the top of the table, then the second greatest, and so on. The indicator will display the journal titles, the total apportioned articles published in them, the contribution of that number of apportioned articles to the university's UoE's total article count (as a percentage) and a cumulative percentage.

Updated: 14 December 2011