[csaa-forum] removal of journal ranking system

Wed Jun 1 15:29:39 CST 2011

ERA RIP.

Like others, though, I’m uneasy about what the alternative might be. There
was always one thing to be said for ERA: it was an attempt to give
recognition to publication outputs rather than give credit only (or mainly)
according to funding inputs. The upside of that was obvious for a field like
cultural studies, where some of the best work has been produced with very
little funding support.

Graeme provides a useful insight into how some assessment of outputs might
survive without journal rankings (via Jon Stratton’s last email). If his
description is right, then judgements will still be made about publication
quality. It will just be ‘in camera’ (and hopefully more nuanced), avoiding
the unintended consequences of public journal rankings.

Let’s hope this system does work and that those making the judgements on
quality do so wisely. My worry is that it might also prove too hard (or
perhaps just too bloody time-consuming!) and they end up throwing up their
hands and going back to taking grant income as a proxy for research quality.
It would be so much easier.

Is it worse seeing the journal you publish in ranked B or C, or seeing
publication in general rated at only 6% of research performance (as it was
under HERDC)? It would be nice to think that we can do better than both, but
I don’t think there’s any certainty.

Mark

On 1 June 2011 14:50, Jackie Cook <Jackie.Cook at unisa.edu.au> wrote:

> Love Paul’s qualitative twist! Try this:
>
>
>
> Q: “How many high-profile quantitative research exercises on academic
> evaluation  have the Unit Evaluators completed and published in
> peer-refereed journals?”
>
> A: “They’re  really extraordinarily flexible, a product of sector-leading
> evaluative experiences…”
>
>
>
> Expect to hear something very like that, very soon…
>
>
>
> Jackie Cook
>
> UniSA
>
>
>
> *From:* csaa-forum-bounces at lists.cdu.edu.au [mailto:
> csaa-forum-bounces at lists.cdu.edu.au] *On Behalf Of *Paul Magee
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 1 June 2011 2:02 PM
> *To:* csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
>
> *Subject:* Re: [csaa-forum] removal of journal ranking system
>
>
>
> Colleagues,
>
>
> I’m still a little confused as to what a ‘unit of evaluation’ is. Is that a
> new term for ‘academic’?
>
> The way quality is so swiftly defined (‘the introduction of a journal
> quality profile, showing the most frequently published journals’) in terms
> of quantity also confuses me. Do you think we could do it the other way
> round, so that whenever people ask us to quantify a phenomenon we respond in
> terms of its qualities?  Q: How many plastic spacemen does it come with? A:
> They’re really extraordinarily flexible, a product of sector-leading
> injection moulding.
>
> Best
>
> P
>
>
> Dr Paul Magee
>
> Associate Professor of Poetry
> Faculty of Arts and Design
> University of Canberra
> ACT 2601
> 02 6201 2402
>
> Australian Government Higher Education (CRICOS)
> Registered Provider number: #00212K
>
>
>
>
>
> On 1/06/11 11:11 AM, "James Arvanitakis" <J.Arvanitakis at uws.edu.au> wrote:
>
> Hey everyone
>
> I am also pleased with this – though always nervous about what is around
> the corner
>
> The journal ranking system has been devastating to emerging researchers.
>
> Friends and colleagues have asked me ‘how to publish in an A* journal’ –
> and feel rejected if they fail. I have always responded that good quality
> research should be published in the appropriate journal and the rankings are
> arbitrary – and will change. This was confirmed to me by a publisher I met
> while in Europe who was literally laughing at the rankings system. He said
> some of his weakest and moribund journals had received A rating and had been
> revived from the decision – but could find no reason why this was the case.
> Meanwhile, excellent journals get a low ranking and people have chosen to
> ignore them.
>
> We then compared an ‘A Journal’ that averages an average of 3.4 readers to
> a newspaper piece based on our research that has 10,000 reads: how should
> these compare?
>
> While I have been lucky to be surrounded by excellent mentors and have
> supported my decision to ignore rankings, I have seen senior management at
> certain universities base their entire decision-making around the ranking
> system. Maybe if we are ever faced with such a system, we can agree to
> boycott it.
>
> Thanks to those who put up a good fight on this
>
>
> *James Arvanitakis, PhD
> *
> Senior Lecturer - School of Humanities and Languages
> Head of Program - Dean Scholars
> Research member - Centre for Cultural Research
> Member of the Ally Program for GLBIT students
> Fellow - Centre for Policy Development
>
> www.jamesarvanitakis.net <
> https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jamesarvanitakis.net>
>
>
> Harper Lee: Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin,
> but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
>
> University of Western Sydney
> Rm UG05, Building U
> Kingswood Campus
> Ph: +61-47360391
> Mob: +61-438-454-127
> www.uws.edu.au <
> https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uws.edu.au>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________
>
> csaa-forum
> discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia
>
> www.csaa.asn.au
>
> change your subscription details at
> http://lists.cdu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/csaa-forum
>
> _______________________________________
>
> csaa-forum
> discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia
>
> www.csaa.asn.au
>
> change your subscription details at
> http://lists.cdu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/csaa-forum
>

-- 
Dr Mark Gibson
Communications and Media Studies Program
National Centre for Australian Studies
School of Journalism, Australian and Indigenous Studies
Faculty of Arts, Monash University
Caulfield East, Victoria 3145
Australia

Caulfield Campus, B4.17

Tel: +61 3 9903 4221
Fax: +61 3 9903 4225
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/attachments/20110601/8a0a5415/attachment-0001.html 