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Frequently Asked Questions for Trial 2009

The ERA Frequently Asked Questions relate to the 2009 trial evaluations of Cluster One - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Cluster Two - Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) clusters. They are updated regularly.

Certification Statements
Reference periods
Journal rankings
Researcher eligibility, full-time equivalence (FTE) and headcount
Field of Research (FoR) code assignment of research outputs
Field of Research (FoR) code assignment of researchers
Low volume
Peer review of outputs
Low volume and peer review
Indicators
Citation analysis
Applied measures
Research income
Discipline clusters and Field of Research (FoR) codes
Benchmarking
Submissions

Certification Statements

What do I need to send to the ARC once the Vice-Chancellor/Vice-Chancellor Delegate has electronically certified my institution’s submission in SEER?
Once an institution’s certification has been completed, select ‘Print Certification Statement’ in SEER and ensure this statement (not the Draft Certification Statement) is signed by the Vice-Chancellor or equivalent.

Please note that the ‘Appendix A: SEER Warnings’ form is a part of the Certification Statement and must be included in the material sent to the ARC.
The signed Certification Statement together with Appendix A should be sent:

By mail to:

Or by courier to:

Last updated 3 August 2009

Reference periods

What are the reference periods for Cluster One - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Cluster Two - Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA)?

For the trial in 2009 the reference periods are as follows:

Data Type	Reference Period
Research outputs	1 January 2002 - 31 December 2007
Research income	1 January 2005 - 31 December 2007
Applied measures	1 January 2005 - 31 December 2007
Citation analysis window	1 January 2002 - 1 March 2009
Staff census date	31 March 2008

What are the dates for the Cluster One and Cluster Two submission periods for the 2009 trial?
The Cluster One submission period has closed.

The Cluster Two submission period opened on 3 August and will close on 21 August. . All HCA submissions must be uploaded and certified in SEER by 5pm (AEST) on 21 August. Signed hardcopies of Cluster Submission Certification Statements are due by 5pm (AEST) on 28 August 2009.

What are the dates for ERA evaluations in 2010?
The dates for the 2010 ERA evaluations have not yet been announced. It is expected that for 2010 the census date and the dates for the reference periods will move forward one year.

Last updated 22 July 2009

Journal rankings

When will the ERA Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) Journal Lists for 2009 be available on the ARC website?

The ERA PCE and HCA Journal Lists for 2009 are now available on the ARC website.

Why does a journal that I publish in not appear on the list?
Many journals that will eventually be included the ARC journal rankings have not yet been released, as they are assigned to clusters that are not part of the 2009 trial. Only journals assigned to FoRs in Clusters One and Two have been released at this stage.

The PCE and HCA journal lists only contain journals assigned to Clusters One and Two. Some journals may also be assigned to non PCE and HCA clusters, and are yet to be released following finalisation.

When will the PCE and HCA lists be reviewed?
The ARC will review the PCE and HCA lists following the 2009 trial.

When will the journal lists for the remaining clusters be released?
The ARC is currently finalising the journal lists for the 2010 clusters and will release them later in 2009.

Last updated 2 November 2009

Researcher eligibility, full time equivalence (FTE) and headcount

How do I report casual staff for ERA?
Casual staff are usually employed directly employed by an institution and should therefore be entered into SEER with the Employment Status of  ‘1’. Using a business rule, SEER will check that an FTE value (between 0.1 and 1.0) has been entered for all staff with an Employment Status of  ‘1’. The ERA Submission Guidelines do not require an FTE value for casual staff where the researcher meets criterion (c)(ii) within the researcher eligibility criteria. If an institution wishes to submit data for casual staff, they may therefore either (i) give them an Employment Status of  ‘1’ and enter a FTE value, or (ii) give them an Employment Status of  ‘2’ which does not require an FTE value to be entered. In both cases the casual staff member will be counted in the headcount for the relevant disciplines.

Will any use be made of staff headcount (as opposed to FTE)?
Yes, limited use will be made of both headcount and FTE in ERA. Research Evaluation Committee (REC) members will have access to information on eligible researchers including headcount and FTE. This will give RECs some context about numbers of staff involved in a Unit of Evaluation and levels of staff employed. Additionally, research income for all categories of funding will be profiled at the national level for the Field of Research (FoR) with a discipline benchmark per FTE.

As non-salaried staff have an FTE of nil, headcount is used to provide a more complete picture of an institution’s researcher profile.

Is it possible for an eligible researcher to have a headcount of one and an FTE of zero?
Yes, researchers who have a status of ‘Other’ are not assigned FTE and have a headcount of one and an FTE of zero. This would include, for example, adjunct researchers where they are not employed by the institution.

Are honorary and/or adjunct researchers eligible for inclusion in ERA?
Yes, if they meet the researcher eligibility criteria outlined in the ERA Submission Guidelines.

How are the research outputs of eligible adjunct researchers who work across more than one institution to be reported in ERA?
Where an eligible adjunct researcher works across two institutions, each institution can count the publications in which the institution’s name appears in the by line (i.e. the publication association rule). The adjunct is eligible to be included in the staff data for both institutions' submissions. If both institutions are named in the one publication then they could both submit that publication.

Does ERA require eligible researcher data and outputs to be submitted for staff whose job does not require them to do research, that is, they are classified as ‘Other’, and who may have produced only one or two research outputs?
No. For the trial, where an eligible researcher with the function of 'Other' has produced one or more eligible research outputs, it is up to the institution to decide whether to submit data and eligible outputs for that researcher.

What size can a research group be?
ERA is not evaluating research groups. The primary unit of evaluation in ERA is the four-digit FoR code by institution.

Are Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students eligible for inclusion in ERA?
HDR students are not included, except where they meet researcher eligibility criterion 5.3.1 (c)(i), as outlined in the ERA Submission Guidelines. This criterion states that to be affiliated with an institution for ERA purposes, the researcher must on the staff census date, “[b]e an employee of the institution, in accordance with criterion (b)(i)”, that is, “[a] person employed by the institution or one of its controlled entities on a full-time, fractional full-time or casual basis”.

Will the FTE of eligible HDR students be counted in ERA?
Yes, if they meet the researcher eligibility criterion (c)(i) outlined in the ERA Submission Guidelines. FTE should be based on their work contract, namely, the total number of agreed work hours for that individual.

Last updated 3 August 2009

Field of Research (FoR) code assignment of research outputs

Can I submit a research output more than once?
No. There should only be one xml entry per research output. As outlined in the ERA Submission Guidelines each research output can be assigned to a maximum of three FoR codes. It is not permissible to submit a duplicate entry with different FoR codes in order to increase the number of disciplines in which the output will be evaluated. While SEER will not do automated checking, as the submission process takes place the ARC will be scrutinising submissions to identify potential duplication along with any other data integrity issues. The ARC will also be undertaking a post-submission duplicate checking process to identify duplicate entries.

I publish legitimate Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) articles in multidisciplinary science journals. Will the ARC remapping process for outputs published in multidisciplinary science journals allow for my articles to be included in the HCA cluster evaluation?
Yes. Journal articles published in both multidisciplinary science and multidisciplinary social science journals will be reassigned by the ARC, using cited references, to the most appropriate four-digit field of research code(s). This includes HCA disciplines.

Can I submit outputs from multidisciplinary science journals for peer review in the HCA trial?
Yes.  You can submit both outputs published in multidisciplinary science and multidisciplinary social science journals that you believe belong to the HCA cluster for peer review. These will then be reassigned by the ARC, using cited references, to the most appropriate four-digit field of research code(s). If the reassignment process assigns the output to a HCA discipline, then the output will be included in the HCA evaluation.

How will FoR code assignment occur?
There are three types of FoR assignment for research outputs in ERA:

1. FoR assignment based on the FoR code(s) of the journal in which a research output is published.
2. FoR assignment by institution for non-journal publications.
3. ARC reassignment of FoRs for outputs published in two-digit or multidisciplinary journals.

How will journal articles be assigned to FoR code(s)?
Journal articles are assigned to the four-digit FoR code(s) of the journal in which the article was published. The FoR assignments of each journal are published in the ERA Ranked Journal List. In most cases, journals are assigned to a single FoR code, but they may be assigned up to three four-digit FoR codes.

The FoR assignments are based on the discipline of the research output, and not necessarily the author. For example, a mathematics article published in the Journal of Biomechanics will be assigned to FoR 0903 - Biomedical Engineering.

Institutions are not required to attach the FoR code(s) of journal articles to their submission as this will be undertaken by the ARC.

When ranked lists are developed for other output types, such as conferences, FoRs will be assigned to these as well.

What is the method for assigning FoRs to multidisciplinary journal articles published in multidisciplinary journals?
The ARC will map cited references to determine the FoR of individual articles published in multidisciplinary journals. This is a methodology used by citation data providers to map articles in multidisciplinary journals to subject category.

For example, an article published in Nature in the field of optical physics will tend to cite a predominance of other articles published in journals assigned to optical physics.

What happens to journals coded to two-digit FoRs?
Some journals which cover a broad spread of a discipline will be coded to the two-digit FoR code (e.g. 02 - Physical Sciences). The ARC will map cited and citing references from these articles to determine the four-digit FoR code assignment of individual articles published in journals assigned to a two-digit FoR. This is a methodology used by citation data providers to map articles in multidisciplinary journals to subject category.

How will non-journal outputs be assigned to FoR code(s)?
ERA allows institutions to assign non-journal outputs to up to three four-digit FoR code(s).

Non-journal outputs include books, book chapters, conference publications and other non-journal outputs.

The ARC expects that there will be instances where a number of a researcher’s research outputs will be assigned FoR codes other than the FoR code(s) assigned to that researcher. In these instances the research output(s) will be submitted to the discipline/cluster according to the FoR code(s) of the output. The researcher’s data must be submitted to both the cluster associated with the researcher’s FoRs and to the cluster associated with the output’s FoRs. The researcher’s data (e.g. FTE) is only counted (i.e. included in the evaluation) in the cluster associated with the researcher’s FoRs.

Last updated 3 August 2009

Field of Research (FoR) code assignment of researchers

How are researchers assigned to FoR code(s)?
Researchers who are affiliated with an institution at the staff census date are assigned by that institution to up to three four-digit FoR code(s) based on the researcher’s dominant area(s) of research.

Does the researcher FoR have to match the research output FoR?
No. However, it is expected that in the majority of cases, the researcher’s FoR will align with the FoRs associated with the research outputs.

The ARC expects that there will be instances where a number of a researcher’s research outputs will be assigned FoR codes other than the FoR code(s) assigned to that researcher. In these instances the research output(s) will be submitted to the discipline/cluster according to the FoR code(s) of the output.

The researcher’s data must be submitted to both the cluster associated with the researcher’s FoRs and to the cluster associated with the output’s FoRs. The researcher’s data (e.g. FTE) is only counted (i.e. included in the evaluation) in the cluster associated with the researcher’s FoRs.

What if I am an interdisciplinary researcher?
Each researcher can be assigned to up to three four-digit FoR code(s). For those researchers whose work spans multiple disciplines, institutions should select the three four-digit FoR codes that most accurately reflect the researcher’s dominant areas of research.

My research spans multiple FoR codes and several discipline clusters. How will I be evaluated?
Individual researchers will not be evaluated. The primary unit of evaluation in ERA is the four-digit FoR code by institution.

All research outputs must be tagged to up to a maximum of three FoR codes. The outputs will be evaluated in each of the assigned FoR codes (either intra- or inter-cluster).

Institutions will be able to recompile interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research by submitting up to two Institutional Unit code(s) and/or research themes to each research output.

Do the FoR code(s) to which a researcher is assigned determine the discipline(s) and/or cluster(s) in which their research outputs will be evaluated?
No. Research outputs will be assigned to, and evaluated by, Research Evaluation Committees (RECs) on the basis of their FoR code(s). This process is independent of the assignment of FoR codes to eligible researchers.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Low volume

I have only produced ten research outputs during the reference period. Will my research be included in ERA?
Yes, if you are an eligible researcher and your outputs meet the research output eligibility criteria. All research outputs submitted to ERA will be used to create national research profiles.

For institutional evaluations, however, low volume thresholds do apply. As ERA is a discipline-based research quality evaluation exercise, these thresholds relate to an entire Unit of Evaluation (e.g. two- or four-digit FoR by institution) and not to the output of an individual researcher within a particular Unit of Evaluation. Therefore even if you only produced ten research outputs during the reference period, your research will still be included in ERA, providing the total outputs from your institution for your Unit of Evaluation exceed the low volume thresholds.

It is also important to note that, depending on the FoR assignment, not all of your research outputs will necessarily be evaluated under a single Unit of Evaluation.
For disciplines where citation analysis is used, if the number of indexed journal articles for an institution’s FoR is fewer than 50 in any two- or four-digit FoR, then no evaluation will be conducted of the FoR for that institution.

For disciplines where citation analysis is not used, no evaluation will be conducted of the FoR for that institution where it contains fewer than the equivalent of 20 submitted research outputs (with books given an effective weighting of 5:1 compared with other research outputs).

If there are five four-digit units of evaluation in a two-digit FoR and the number of outputs for one is below the low volume threshold, but the other four have sufficient volume, will all five be evaluated at the two-digit level?
Yes.  In the example given, the four-digit units of evaluation with sufficient volume would be assessed at the four-digit level.  The unit of evaluation that doesn't meet the threshold would not be assessed at the four-digit level. However, all information from the four-digit units of evaluation (including the one that does not meet the volume threshold) would be aggregated to the two-digit level and included in the analysis at the two-digit level.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Peer review of outputs

How many and what type of outputs can I nominate for peer review?
Peer review is not being used for Cluster One—Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE). Peer review is an indicator for the Field of Research (FoR) codes within Cluster Two—Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA). If a four-digit code exceeds the minimum threshold of 20 (equivalent journal articles) outputs or more it will be evaluated. Institutions have been asked to identify up to 20 per cent of those outputs for the purposes of peer review. The 20 per cent should be determined on the total number of outputs not the weighted number. For four-digit codes which do not reach the threshold of 20 (equivalent journal articles) outputs, institutions are also asked to identify 20 per cent of outputs for the purposes of peer review. The outputs identified for peer review for all of the four-digit codes (i.e. those that do and do not reach the threshold for peer review at the four-digit level) will constitute a representative pool of items for the purposes of peer review at the two-digit level.

What output types can be selected for peer review?
The output types which have been identified for possible peer review by the HCA Research Evaluation Committee in the 2009 trial are listed in the HCA Discipline Matrix in the ERA Submission Guidelines. 

It is possible that an institution could select only journal articles from a range of possible output types which it produces. There is an advantage for the ARC and for institutions, however, in testing peer review for a range of output types through the 2009 trial to assist with preparations for the full ERA process for 2010.  Institutions are encouraged, therefore, to take the opportunity of the trial to include a range of eligible output types in their submission for peer review for the 2009 trial.

Can peer review items be selected from journals not on the HCA journal list?
No. Only items published in journals that appear on the HCA Journal List can be submitted for peer review.

Is the 20 per cent of research outputs for each four-digit FoR code based on the raw number of outputs or the weighted number of outputs?
The 20 per cent for peer review is based on total, unweighted, publication numbers. Books count as ‘one’ not ‘five’.

Can outputs be nominated for peer review (as part of the 20 per cent) in each of the four-digit FoR codes that fall within the same cluster?
Outputs can be nominated for peer review (as part of the 20 per cent) in each of the four-digit FoR codes that fall within the same cluster. Where the four-digit FoRs are included in evaluations at the two-digit and national levels, however, the duplicate items will be removed, and not counted twice.

If an output is assigned more than one FoR can I choose the FoR in which I would like it to be peer reviewed?
No. As outlined in the Evaluation Guidelines peer review in ERA is undertaken on a representative sample of outputs rather than at the level of the individual outputs. Accordingly, institutions may not nominate the individual FoRs in which they want an output to be peer reviewed. Institutions can only tag items for peer review at the output level, not at the FoR level. If an output is assigned more than one FoR, and is tagged for peer review, it will be available for peer review in all FoRs.

How do I nominate articles in two-digit or multidisciplinary journals for peer review?
You can nominate articles published in two-digit or multidisciplinary journals for peer review in the same way that you would nominate articles published in journals that have been assigned four-digit FoR codes. The article will be reassigned up to three four-digit FoR codes through the ARC’s journal reassignment process. After reassignment, the inclusion of a reassigned article in a four-digit code may cause that four-digit code to exceed its 20 per cent limit on peer review items. The ARC will allow institutions to exceed the 20 per cent limit in these cases, and the article would be included in the pool of peer review items nominated for that four-digit code.

How do I identify an output as sensitive if it has more than one sensitivity type?
The XML schema has been updated so that institutions may choose various combinations of sensitivity types to reflect multiple sensitivities associated with a research output. The sensitive types are:

• commercially sensitive;
• culturally sensitive;
• non public;
• commercially sensitive and culturally sensitive;
• commercially sensitive and non public;
• culturally sensitive and non public; and
• commercially sensitive, culturally sensitive and non public.

How do I submit a ‘research justification statement’ for a research output? A research justification statement, known in ERA as a ‘Research Statement for Peer Review of Creative Works’ is only required for creative works research outputs that are selected for ERA peer review (i.e. those outputs that are part of the sample). The statement must be made available in an institutionally-supported repository. For more information, please refer to the ERA Submission Guidelines.

For information on how to submit the electronic location of the research statement through SEER, please refer to the ERA–SEER Technical FAQ.

Last updated 22 July 2009

Low volume and peer review

Do I need to nominate outputs for peer review for a four-digit Field of Research (FoR) if the FoR is not going to meet the low volume threshold?
Yes. Peer review will be used for all FoR codes within Cluster Two—Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) for the 2009 ERA trial.  If a four-digit code exceeds the minimum threshold of 20 outputs or more it will be evaluated.  Institutions have been asked to identify up to 20 per cent of those outputs for the purposes of peer review.  For four-digit codes which do not reach the threshold of 20 outputs, institutions are also asked to identify up to 20 per cent of outputs for the purposes of peer review.  The outputs identified for peer review for all of the four-digit codes (ie those that do and do not reach the threshold for peer review at the four-digit level) will constitute a pool of items for the purposes of peer review at the two-digit level, and may also be reviewed at the national level.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Indicators

I don’t think a particular indicator is relevant to my research. Can I choose for it not to apply?
No. It is not possible to choose the indicators used in the evaluation of a particular discipline. The indicators that apply to each four-digit Field of Research (FoR) code are outlined in the Discipline Matrices, in the ERA Submission Guidelines. The Physical Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) Matrices were developed in conjunction with representatives from the relevant disciplines. All indicators applicable to an FoR code will be used in evaluation, assuming requirements (e.g. low volume threshold) have been met.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Citation analysis

Who is the citation data supplier?
Scopus is the citation data supplier for the Cluster One - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) evaluation in 2009. Citation analysis will not be used for the Cluster Two - Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) cluster evaluation in 2009.

Will my institution require a licence from the ERA citation provider?
No. The ARC will make the necessary arrangements to ensure that institutions are not required to purchase a licence from the ERA citation data supplier.

Will ‘self-citations’ be included in citation analysis?
Yes. All citations will be included in the citation profile. The evidence available to the ARC is that the impact of self-citations and ‘citation clubs’ is not sufficiently significant to warrant the effort required to exclude them from analysis.

What is the cut off date for inclusion of citations for ERA?
Citations received up to 1 March 2009 will be included in the first round of ERA.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Applied measures

What are the eligibility requirements for applied measures?
Applied measures including patents, registered designs and research commercialisation income are reported as per research income. Researcher eligibility criteria are not relevant for applied measures. Other eligibility requirements apply to specific applied measures. Please refer to the ERA Submission Guidelines for details.

Institutions are required to be able to identify a clear link between the applied measure and the research that was undertaken to generate the measure.

Only applied measures obtained by the institution during the reference period (1 January 2005–31 December 2007) can be submitted.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Research income

How should I report Category 1 income data?
Category 1 income should be reported on a grant by grant basis. That is, institutions must submit each Category 1 grant received by four-digit Field of Research (FoR) code for each year of the research income reference period. This allows the ARC to derive from each submission a total number of grants received.

How should I report Category 3 income data?
Institutions must submit Category 3 research income data separated into the three sub-categories for each year of the ERA research income reference period:

• Australian
• International A (Competitive, Peer-Reviewed Research Grant Income)
• International B (Other Income)

How will research income be related to full time equivalence (FTE)?
Total research income for each category will be profiled against total FTE at the census date, rather than FTE in the year the income was received.

Will income be apportioned equally between FoR codes assigned to a project, or will it be necessary to specify the percentage apportionment to each FoR code?
For each grant, research income may be apportioned across as many four-digit FoR codes as is relevant to the individual grant.

Institutions may determine the percentage apportionment across the chosen FoR codes, provided that the apportionment does not exceed the total amount of income received either within the institution or across more than one institution.

For research income to be eligible for submission for Cluster One - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Cluster Two - Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA), only one assigned FoR needs to fall within the clusters. Following the completion of all cluster evaluations, the ARC will conduct checks to ensure that there was no double counting of research income.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Discipline clusters and Field of Research (FoR) codes

Have there been any changes to the inclusion of FoRs in Cluster One - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences  (PCE) and Cluster Two - Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA)?
Yes. Following sector consultation, the following changes were made:

• 0105 Mathematical Physics was removed from Cluster One and added to Cluster Five - Mathematical, Information and Computing Sciences (MIC) which contains Mathematical Sciences.
• 1802 Maori Law was added to Cluster Two.
• 0807 Library and Information Studies was removed from Cluster Two and added to Cluster Five which contains Information and Computing Sciences (MIC).
• 1699 Other Studies in Human Society was removed from Cluster Two and added to Cluster Four - Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE) which contains Studies in Human Society.

Which FoRs are in each of the remaining clusters?
The complete list of FoRs for all clusters is included in the ERA Submission Guidelines.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Benchmarking

How will benchmarks be determined?
The process by which benchmarks for all disciplines are established is outlined in the ERA Indicator Benchmark Methodology document, which is available on the ARC website.

Last updated 1 July 2009

Submissions

Can I choose my best research for evaluation and not submit all of my research outputs?
No. All research items produced during the reference period must be submitted for evaluation (assuming all other requirements such as research output and researcher eligibility are met).
For disciplines using peer review, institutions are asked to identify a proportion of outputs for peer review. The standard proportion is 20 per cent; however, this may vary across clusters and will be reflected in the relevant Discipline Matrix.
For the trial evaluations of Cluster One - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Cluster Two - Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) in 2009, only the Cluster Two evaluations include peer review.

More information about ERA is available at www.arc.gov.au > ERA

If you have further questions about ERA, please contact the ERA Helpdesk on 02 6287 6755 or era@arc.gov.au.

Last updated 1 July 2009

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