Fwd: [csaa-forum] ERA rankings

Tue Jul 8 12:48:46 CST 2008

I meant to send this to the list, but ended up just sending it to  
Andrew - I agree entirely with the protest action. T.M.

> he word 'Sisyphean' springs to mind. If you ask me, the whole thing  
> is a pointless time-wasting exercise that simply reflects the fact  
> that the ARC can't get its act together. T.M.

>
> On 07/07/2008, at 2:19 PM, Andrew Murphie wrote:
>
>> just to reiterate Greg's point, however ... people can try to  
>> "save" as many journals they like, but the more that are pushed up,  
>> the more that will be pushed down again. There can only be %5 A*  
>> and 15% A, including overseas journals ... there is an effort to  
>> give journals appropriate recognition, which is of course necessary  
>> but itself subject to a haphazard and unpredictable process. But  
>> the question of the percentages doesn't really seem to be addressed  
>> as yet, and in many ways that is the main game.
>>
>> best, Andrew
>>
>> 2008/7/7 Jon Stratton <J.Stratton at curtin.edu.au>:
>>
>>   Hi Everybody,
>>     While on the matter of which journals are ranked high and which  
>> low, those people who write about film need to know that (I think I  
>> am right in saying) no film journal get higher than a B ranking and  
>> most, including Screen, get a C.  Also, for those who write about  
>> popular music--and I have already posted this information to the  
>> local popular music studies email List--Perfect Beat: The Pacific  
>> Journal for Research into Contemporary Music and Popular Culture,  
>> running since 1992 and the only Australian-based journal  
>> specialising in popular music studies, gets a C and the other  
>> relevant journals, such as Popular Music and Society, get a B.
>> Again, I emphasise, please organise submissions.
>> cheers,
>> Jon
>>
>> From: csaa-forum-bounces at lists.cdu.edu.au on behalf of Jon Stratton
>> Sent: Sun 6/07/2008 6:24 PM
>> To: Lelia GREEN; csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
>>
>> Subject: RE: [csaa-forum] ERA rankings
>>
>>
>>   Hi Everybody,
>>     Thanks for expanding and reinforcing my email, Leilia.  In the  
>> last few days, the dealine has been extended.  I was sent this email:
>> Due to the large interest in and the importance of this exercise  
>> the ARC is extending the deadline for submissions by three weeks.   
>> Therefore, submissions as part of this consultation process will  
>> close COB on Thursday 14 August, 2008, but researchers will be  
>> asked (via the "Making Submissions" link on our website http://www.arc.gov.au/era/submissions_ranking.htm) 
>>  to have their submission material to their institution's ERA  
>> Liaison Officer by COB 31 July 2008 to allow time for compilation  
>> of your institution's submission.
>>
>> cheers,
>> Jon
>> From: Lelia GREEN [mailto:l.green at ecu.edu.au]
>> Sent: Sun 6/07/2008 3:45 PM
>> To: Jon Stratton; csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
>> Subject: RE: [csaa-forum] ERA rankings
>>
>> Dear Jon and all
>>
>> Thanks for raising this, Jon.
>>
>> In fact, the ARC press release of 12 June indicates that  
>> institutions have until 24 July to respond to the draft list. (See  
>> below). Institutions will probably have closing dates for internal  
>> submissions that are a week or two before this date -- so this is a  
>> job for the coming week!
>>
>> Sadly, both Cultural Studies journals and Communications journals  
>> appear to have suffered as a result of not being clearly aligned  
>> with either a Humanities or a Social Sciences focus. In addition to  
>> the list of B graded journals in your post can be added the  
>> internationally-recognised Australian Journal of Communication  
>> (which the Australian Business Deans' Council graded as A), and M/ 
>> C: A Journal of Media and Culture. The only Australian journal in  
>> our field to be recognised as higher than B appears to be Media  
>> International Australia (A*).
>>
>> I agree with Jon that this is a matter that should be raised  
>> urgently with our University research co-ordinators since it would  
>> be inappropriate to categorise all Australian journals in Media,  
>> Communications and Cultural Studies (apart from MIA) as publishing  
>> "only a few papers of very high quality".
>>
>> Further, this discussion and the fact that we had little notice of  
>> the outcomes prior to the 12 June indicates that we should work  
>> towards a national forum of Humanities and Arts Deans so that we  
>> could have had input into the national discussions equivalent to  
>> that enjoyed by the Business Deans. (They have a national meeting  
>> twice a year to impact upon policy affecting their discipline areas.)
>>
>> Thanks again
>>
>> Lelia
>>
>>
>> Thursday, 12 June 2008
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ARC seeks sector's views on journal rankings for ERA initiative
>>
>>
>>
>> The Australian Research Council (ARC) has today launched a  
>> consultation period on a draft journal rankings list, one of the  
>> indicators that will be used on a discipline-specific basis to  
>> evaluate research as part of the Excellence in Research for  
>> Australia (ERA) initiative.
>>
>>
>>
>> Research outlets are ranked into four tiers (A*, A, B and C) on the  
>> basis of the overall quality that each has for a particular  
>> discipline.
>>
>>
>>
>> ARC Chief Executive Officer, Professor Margaret Sheil said that  
>> this is the second phase on the journal rankings.  In late 2007,  
>> the four Learned Academies and a number of peak bodies, undertook  
>> the initial journal ranking exercise to develop this draft for  
>> their relevant disciplines.
>>
>>
>>
>> "More than 19,000 unique peer reviewed journals have been  
>> identified to form the draft list of ranked journals.
>>
>>
>>
>> "It is worth noting that journals of Australian origin are well  
>> represented in the top tiers of the draft rankings.
>>
>>
>>
>> "This is an important process to ensure that the higher education  
>> and research sectors will have confidence in the rankings that will  
>> be used as part of the ERA initiative," Professor Sheil said.
>>
>>
>>
>> Submissions will close on Thursday 24 July, 2008.  More information  
>> is available from the ARC website: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/indicators.htm 
>>  <https://staffmail.ecu.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.arc.gov.au/era/indicators.htm 
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> The ARC will release the final journal ranking list once all  
>> submissions have been considered.
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: csaa-forum-bounces at lists.cdu.edu.au on behalf of Jon Stratton
>> Sent: Sun 06/07/2008 10:30
>> To: csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
>> Subject: [csaa-forum] ERA rankings
>>
>>
>>
>>   Hi Everybody,
>>       If you haven't already, may I please suggest that you look at  
>> the journal rankings that are planned to be used for the federal  
>> government's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise.   
>> The list of journals and the rankings can be found at:  http://www.arc.gov.au/xls/ERA_Journal_Ranking_Flatfile.xls 
>>  <https://email.curtin.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.arc.gov.au/xls/ERA_Journal_Ranking_Flatfile.xls 
>> >  .  There are four categories, A*, A, B. C.  C is therefore the  
>> lowest ranking.  You might particularly want to note that  
>> Continuum, which is the only international cultural studies journal  
>> based in Australia, and is the CSAA-linked journal, has a B  
>> ranking.  This places it well down in importance and means that  
>> articles published in it will not be regarded by the ERA exercise  
>> as being of as much worth as compared to if the journal are ranked  
>> at A* or A.
>>        Journal of Intercultural Studies is also ranked as a B, as  
>> are Social Identities, and Borderlands.  Third Text is a C as is  
>> New Formations.  As a generalisation, it seems to me that journals  
>> based in the US or Britain, and journals which tend towards  
>> publishing less innovative and less controversial (and this  
>> includes political) articles, tend to be given the higher rankings.
>>      At present submissions are being taken for additions to the  
>> journal list and for changes in ranking.  All submissions have to  
>> be sent through universities.  If you have not been contacted by  
>> the R&D area of your university may I suggest that you contact  
>> them, find out how to register a submission in your university and  
>> do so.  The closing date for submissions is towards the end of July.
>> thanks for your time,
>> Jon
>>
>>
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>>
>> -- 
>> "Take me to the operator, I want to ask some questions" - Barbara  
>> Morgenstern
>>
>> "A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, Where am I?  
>> What he really wants to know is, Where are the other places" -  
>> Alfred North Whitehead
>>
>> "I thought I had reached port; but I seemed to be cast back again  
>> into the open sea" (Deleuze and Guattari, after Leibniz)
>>
>> Andrew Murphie - Associate Professor
>> School of English, Media and Performing Arts, University of New  
>> South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2052
>> Editor - The Fibreculture Journal http://journal.fibreculture.org/>
>> web:
>> http://www.andrewmurphie.org/
>> http://www.andrewmurphie.org/blog/
>> http://www.last.fm/user/andersand/
>> http://researchhub.cofa.unsw.edu.au/ccap/
>>
>> fax:612 93856812 tlf:612 93855548 email: a.murphie at unsw.edu.au
>> room 311H, Webster Building _______________________________________
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