rqf outcomes in sciences gavin moodie, principal policy adviser vice chancellor’s office
TRANSCRIPT
RQF outcomes in sciences Gavin Moodie, Principal Policy Adviser
Vice Chancellor’s office
2
RQF outcomes in sciencesThomson Scientific’s data
UK research assessment exercise
Method
UK data
Results
Conclusion
3
Thomson ISI
Thomson Corporation founded in 1934
US$8.7 billion in law, education, finance and science
ISI founded by Eugene Garfield in 1954
ISI indexes, abstracts and counts citations
Thomson acquired ISI in 1992
4
Thomson’s web of knowledge
Journal Citation Reports
Highly cited authors
Current contents connect
Web of science
5
Thomson Scientific’s web of science
Indexes of 8,700 journals in science, social science, and arts and humanities
It is selective: 10% - 12% of all refereed journals
ISI indexed 50% of publications reported to Dest in maths and economics in 1991, < 10% in arts and law
6
ISI’s coverage of the 2001 RAE
Unit % articles % articles ISI % ISI
Biology 97.9 99.1 96.4
Physics 96.2 91.6 90.8
Mech eng 92.8 92.0 82.8
Sociology 52.3 59.9 31.3
Politics 50.8 55.9 24.8
Law 52.1 18.7 8.2
7
Research Assessment Exercise
In 1986, 1989, 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2008
68 units of assessment
Each researcher submits best 4 outputs
Rated: 5*, 5, 4, 3a, 3b, 2, 1
8
Method
Extract publication counts from Thomson Scientific
Map Thomson’s ‘subject category’ to ABS’ RFCD
Selected UK universities for comparison
9
UK universities chosen for study (1)
University Founded Located Students SHJT rank
Aberdeen 1495 NE Scotland 13,500 301-400
Brighton 1992 SE England 19,000
Brunel 1966 W London 13,000
Cambridge 1209 E England 17,000 2
City Univ 1966 N London 11,500
10
UK universities chosen for study (2)
University Founded Location Students SHJT rank
Coventry 1992 W midlands 17,000
East Anglia 1964 E England 13,000 153-202
Keele 1992 W midlands 6,500
LJ Moores 1992 NW England 24,000
Stirling 1967 Centre Scot 9,000
Warwick 1965 W midlands 15,500 203-300
11
UK results for biology (1)
University Articles Volume RAE rating
Cambridge 2,944 Very high 5*, 5*, 5, 5, 5
Aberdeen 2,007 High 5
East Anglia 1,153 High 5
Warwick 1,090 High 5
Stirling 766 Medium 4
12
UK results for biology (2)
University Articles Volume RAE rating
LJ Moores 332 Low
Keele 317 Low 4
Brunel 277 Low 4
Brighton 219 Low
City 103 Very low
Coventry 78 Very low 2
13
UK results for physics (1)
University Articles Volume RAE rating
Cambridge 2,654 Very high 5*
Warwick 1,305 Very high 5
Brunel 454 High
LJ Moores 360 High 4
Keele 348 High 3a
14
UK results for physics (2)
University Articles Volume RAE rating
East Anglia 186 Medium
City 183 Medium 4
Aberdeen 155 Low
Coventry 119 Low
Brighton 89 Low 3a
Stirling 35 Very low
15
UK results for mech eng (1)
University Articles Volume RAE rating
Cambridge 348 Very high
Brunel 243 Very high 5
Warwick 166 High
Aberdeen 101 Medium
LJ Moores 94 Medium 3a
16
UK results for mech eng (2)
University Articles Volume RAE rating
City 71 Low 4
East Anglia 70 Low
Keele 54 Low
Coventry 43 Low 3a
Brighton 29 Very low
Stirling 4 Very low
17
Australian results by institution
Go8 have most disciplines with high and very high volumes of articles indexed by Thomson Scientific
Most newer universities have low or very low volumes of articles indexed by Thomson Scientific
Newcastle and Macquarie do better than expected
U of Melbourne engineering worse than expected
18
Australian results by discipline
Chemistry, maths and physics dominated by go8
Psych and computing stronger in newer universities
Environmental sciences stronger in Australia than in the UK
19
Conclusions
Go8 likely to do well in RQF
Newer universities not likely to get much from RQF
Strong correlation between citations and RAE ratings in experimental disciplines
But difficult to predict how universities construct their units of assessment/groupings