The Australian Research Council is reviewing its two research metric schemes, Excellence for Research in Australia, and Engagement and Impact

A learned reader suggests there are three problems in ERA for Indigenous, Maori and Pacific studies. First, ERA uses international benchmarks, that don’t apply to research that is largely undertaken in ANZ. Second, journals which publish relevant research will not nominate the new fields of research codes, (CMM July 1), which means a “substantial bias” in what ERA reports.  Third, some research on Indigenous issues is published in high ranking journals that do not include the relevant FOR codes. A solution to this, the learned reader suggests, is for published research to be allocated to both Indigenous FORs as well as the other code that covers the work.

 Get the word out

The ARC plans to release submissions to the research metrics review after it is out, which seems a bit late for a debate. So, CMM will report and/or link to, as many submissions as it can – send them in people.