Deakin U’s law school is looking locally with a new research publication strategy.

“An analysis of the top ERA rated Australian law schools shows unequivocally that their profiles are built on a solid platform of publications in the top four Australian law journals,” school research director Nicole Siller told staff on Friday.

This rather reverses former dean Sandeep Gopalan’s emphasis on publishing in international journals, which was not popular with all Deakin researchers focused on Australian law.

While Dr Siller assures staff efforts to “target” “top” international journals “have not gone unnoticed,” under the new policy staff who have articles accepted by ten Australian law journals, “will be receiving some sort of financial advantage.”

Nor is this all about institutional interest; “we also have a social responsibility to further Australian legal scholarship (which by its nature is mostly published in Australian journals,” she said.

Dr Siller responded for a request for comment on Friday with a statement: “We continue to prioritise publication in quality journals from both Australia and internationally.”