Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) is Australia's national research evaluation framework, developed and administered by the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

(ARC). The first full round of ERA occurred in 2010, and subsequent rounds followed in 2012, 2015 and 2018. A round was scheduled for 2023, but in September 2022 the ARC announced that this would be postponed as they were transitioning the ERA process to a more robust and data driven model. In addition to the Higher Education Research Data Collection, which collects statistics about research in Australia, the ERA collects itemised data, with all research classified according to the Field of Research (FOR) classification scheme used by the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

. ERA relies on committees of academic experts to assess and rate research on a 1 to 5 scale (up to the 2018 round), by field of research and by university, and using a mix of assessment methods appropriate to the academic field being assessed.

History

The ERA framework was established by the

Rudd government Rudd Government may refer to the following Australian governments: * Rudd government (2007–10) * Rudd government (2013) {{Dab ...

in 2008, and replaced the Research Quality Framework that had been developed by the

Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...

. In 2009, two trials were conducted for the clusters "Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences" (PCE) and "Humanities and Creative Arts" (HCA), and reports have been published using this data. The first full round of ERA occurred in 2010, with its results published early the following year. This was the first ever nationwide identification of strengths and weaknesses in all disciplines undertaken in Australia. Further rounds of ERA took place in 2012, 2015 and 2018. On 6 December 2012 Senator the Hon Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, announced the outcomes of the ERA 2012 process, with the release of the ''ERA 2012 National report''.

Bibliometrics

The ARC used

Scopus Scopus is a scientific abstract and citation database, launched by the academic publisher Elsevier as a competitor to older Web of Science in 2004. The ensuing competition between the two databases has been characterized as "intense" and is c ...

as the citation and

bibliometrics Bibliometrics is the application of statistical methods to the study of bibliographic data, especially in scientific and library and information science contexts, and is closely associated with scientometrics (the analysis of scientific metri ...

provider for the 2010 and 2012 ERA.

Clusters

For the 2010 data collection, the Field of Research codes are distributed into the following eight clusters: # Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) # Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) # Engineering and Environmental Sciences (EE) # Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences (SBE) # Mathematical, Information and Computing Sciences (MIC) # Biological and Biotechnological Sciences (BB) # Biomedical and Clinical Health Sciences (BCH) # Public and Allied Health Sciences (PAH) For the 2012 data collection, the clusters were changed. The SBE cluster was split into two new EHS and EC clusters, and the BCH and PAH clusters were merged to form a "Medical and Health Sciences" cluster. The Field of Research codes are distributed into the following eight clusters: # Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) - no changes # Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) - 1202 and 1204 added # Engineering and Environmental Sciences (EE) - 1202 and 1204 removed; 1005-1099 added # Education and Human Society (EHS) # Economics and Commerce (EC) # Mathematical, Information and Computing Sciences (MIC) - 1005-1099 removed # Biological and Biotechnological Sciences (BB) - no changes # Medical and Health Sciences (MHS) - combines clusters BCH and PAH, and 1004 and 17

Institutions

The following institutions are deemed eligible to submit data to the government as part of the ERA initiative: *

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation ...

Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE, generally known as Batchelor Institute and formerly known as Batchelor College) provides training and further education, and higher education for Aboriginal Australians and Torres Str ...

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private university, private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, Queensland, Robina on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its opening on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teachi ...

Central Queensland University Central Queensland University (branded as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campus is at Norman ...

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain (British Army and Royal ...

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is, , t ...

Federation University Federation University Australia (FedUni) is a public university based in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is the modern descendant of the School of Mines Ballarat, established in 1870 as the fourth tertiary institution in Australi ...

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

Melbourne College of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university with a specialised focus in divinity and associated disciplines. It is constituted by twelve theological colleges from seven denominations and three schools. The University of Di ...

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its ...

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

Southern Cross University Southern Cross University (SCU) is an Australian public university, with campuses at Lismore and Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, and at Coolangatta, the most southern suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland. In 2019, it was ranke ...

Swinburne University of Technology The Swinburne University of Technology (or simply Swinburne) is a public university, public research university in Melbourne, Australia. It is the modern descendant of the Eastern Suburbs Technical College established in 1908, renamed Swinburne ...

* The Australian National University *

The University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

The University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

* The University of New England *

The University of New South Wales ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

* The University of Newcastle * The University of Notre Dame Australia *

The University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an i ...

The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

* The University of the Sunshine Coast *

The University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UWA was established in 1911 by ...

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland is a public research university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, the sixth largest city in the Australian state of Queensland Founded in 1967 after a successful campaign by the local Darling Down ...

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

(incorporating

Australian Maritime College The Australian Maritime College (AMC) is a tertiary education institution based in Launceston, Tasmania, established by the ''Maritime College Act 1978'' (Cth). Tertiary education is provided and organised by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) a ...

) *

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back t ...

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus public research university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university in its current form was founde ...

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

* Victoria University

Journal lists

The ARC maintains a list of journals that are eligible for inclusion in the ERA. The ARC initially stated that these journals would be ranked using the following "four tiers of quality rating": :A* (top 5%): "Virtually all papers they publish will be of a very high quality" :A (next 15%): "The majority of papers in a Tier A journal will be of very high quality" :B (next 30%): "Generally, in a Tier B journal, one would expect only a few papers of very high quality" :C (next 50%): Journals "that do not meet the criteria of higher tiers". After the publication of its draft rankings, ERA introduced a form aimed at all scholars who wished to put a journal forward for the list. There were just three conditions for such a proposal: that the journal be "a scholarly, peer reviewed journal with an ISSN", that the person making the proposal state whether he/she was a member of the editorial board, and that the decision remain at ARC's discretion. This consultation procedure led to a significant increase in the number of journals in the final list: for example, Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) journals went from 10,241 to 12,976. The percentage distributions were not recalled and not adhered to in the final list which was released on 9 February 2010, though the proportion of A* and A journals did not correlate directly with the performance of different disciplines. These journal rankings (A*, A, B, C) were discontinued for the 2012 ERA process.

Conference lists

The list of conference rankings was released in December 2009. Conferences have only a three level ranking scheme:ARC ERA Ranked Outlets
A, B, or C. Conferences are only ranked within the following Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification Fields of Research: :08: Information and Computing Sciences :09: Engineering :10: Technology :12: Built Environment and Design As with journal rankings, a prescribed distribution has not been mandated by the ARC. The Deakin ERA Journal Rankings Access website has been expanded and renamed the ERA Outlets Rankings Access website.

References

External links

*
Australian University Rankings

ERA Outlets Ranking Access
, John Lamp,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Excellence In Research For Australia 2010 establishments in Australia Research management University and college rankings Science policy Research in Australia