| ERA Update |
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ERA Draft Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences Journal list |
Successful ERA Pilot Submission
The Office for Research participated in the recent ERA Pilot submission. The purpose of the Pilot was to test Institutions ability to upload ERA data to the ARC's System to Evaluate the Excellence of Research (SEER). We were able to write extensions to the Office for Research databases systems to create the structured data file required by the SEER system, including all the mandatory fields. This successful trial gives us confidence that our systems have the required functionality for the full ERA submissions expected in 2009. However much work is still required to assemble the complete datasets required for these submissions.
Discipline Group Submissions
Initial announcements by the ARC indicate that the first two ERA discipline group submissions will occur in 2009 and will be the Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences group, followed by the Humanities and Creative Arts group. The complete requirements for submissions for these groups are yet to be announced. The ARC has setup an Indicators Development Group to advise on the most appropriate quality indicators for different research disciplines. More information on this is available from http://www.arc.gov.au/era/IDG.htm.
Preparing for ERA Submissions
Unlike the RQF there is no requirement to produce copious volumes of text describing the achievements of research groups. We will however have to submit data on all eligible researchers and to make sure we have our researchers allocated to the most appropriate discipline groups. In order to do this we will be asking all academic staff to register their main area of research interest with the Office for Research.
ERA Discipline Clusters
There will be separate ERA submissions for 8 discipline clusters:
More information on FOR codes is available from http://research.vu.edu.au/ordsite/management/ANZSRC_Mar_2008.pdf
Ranked Outlets
The consultation period for the ERA Journal rankings list closed in August 2008. The revised ranking list has yet to be released although the ARC have committed to releasing the sections of the list related to the first two discipline groups scheduled for submission (Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences, and Humanities and Creative Arts) in 2008. The ARC page on ranked outlets is http://www.arc.gov.au/era/consultation_ranking.htm.
