<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD><TITLE>In praise of editing & HERDC/ERA criteria</TITLE>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2> Hi Gerard,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2> Thanks for this.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2> But, if I may, can I reiterate my original query. This concerned edited book collections. In HERDC and ERA edited collections, that is to say, books edited by one or more people, are not treated as research. Thus, if any of us has edited, or coedited, a book, that book is not eligible to be counted in HERDC or ERA. The huge amount of work that goes into editing a collection is lost in the HERDC/ERA research capturing exercise. However, and this is very important, chapters that a person publishes in an edited collection *do* count. What this means is that, in terms of official recognition, including government research funding, you would be crazy to edit a collection but, you would be very sensible to agree to publish a chapter in a collection that some crazy person is editing. Does this make sense? No. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2> Now, many of you may work in unis where you have little to do with your R&D area and where, at the practical level of workload, an edited book is counted as research. This may not continue. At Curtin, and possibly at other universities around Australia, R&D has aligned their classification of research with HERDC/ERA. This is because Curtin is trying to increase its research profile in the government's terms. This is because this closely relates to university funding. Thus, at Curtin, you get no acknowledgement from R&D if you edit a book. However, if you publish a chapter in an edited collection, you are acknowledged for this. My original question was, how are other universities dealing with this problem? And, relatedly, how are we, who edit books and publish in edited collections, dealing with this problem?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2> My subsidiary point is that there needs to be pressure brought on the people who administrate HERDC/ERA to include edited collections in their description of research. This, I would suggest, is best done at university level, probably by universities' R&D areas. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>with best wishes,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jon </FONT></DIV></DIV>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au on behalf of Gerard Goggin<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thu 3/3/2011 12:08 PM<BR><B>To:</B> CSAA Forum<BR><B>Subject:</B> [csaa-forum] In praise of editing & HERDC/ERA criteria<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Hi Mark, Anna, Jon, and others<BR><BR>As a former/reformed journal editor, I can’t resist adding ‘hear, hear’ to the points you’ve made.<BR><BR>Hard to see what the answers are – or rather pat formula — to provide to institutions (though it is recognized to some extent in some workload systems). <BR><BR>The paradox is plain: editorial work, reviewing, curating, and translation that journals and collections involve is critical to how research is defined and evaluated; but it remains remarkably invisible to reward systems (even if it garners esteem).<BR><BR>Still lots of fun, though — as well as intellectually and culturally significant.<BR><BR>Cheers,<BR><BR>Gerard Goggin<BR><BR>On 3/03/11 1:41 PM, "Mark Gibson" <<A href="">mark.gibson@monash.edu</A>> wrote:<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thanks again Anna. One section particularly caught my eye:<BR><BR>“Some CELJ editors report that it is increasingly difficult to locate appropriate readers for peer review, in some measure because our academic culture does not reward scholars for so doing. Junior scholars report that their administrative heads advise them not to undertake peer reviews or even book reviews except for the most prestigious journals. Such work is considered 'mere service' and (often like journal editing) erased as a significant part of one's professional research or teaching.”<BR><BR>So it’s not just HERDC and ERA. It’s emerging as an issue in North America too.<BR><BR>Mark<BR><BR>On 3/03/11 1:08 PM, "Anna Poletti (Arts)" <<A href="">anna.poletti@monash.edu</A>> wrote:<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Just as a follow up to yesterday's discussion, here is comment from then president of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals on journal rankings made in 2009<BR><A href="http://www.celj.org/fragmentation">http://www.celj.org/fragmentation</A><BR><BR>Best wishes<BR>Anna<BR><BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face="Consolas, Courier New, Courier"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">_______________________________________<BR><BR>csaa-forum<BR>discussion list of the cultural studies association of australasia<BR><BR>www.csaa.asn.au<BR><BR>change your subscription details at <A href="http://lists.cdu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/csaa-forum">http://lists.cdu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/csaa-forum</A><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT size=2><FONT face="Consolas, Courier New, Courier"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\<BR>Gerard Goggin<BR>Professor of Media and Communications <BR>Department of Media and Communications<BR>Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences<BR>University of Sydney <BR>e: <A href="">gerard.goggin@sydney.edu.au</A><BR>p: +61 2 9114 1218<BR>m: +61 428 66 88 24<BR>w: <A href="http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/staff/ggoggin">http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/staff/ggoggin</A><BR><BR>Address: <BR>Level 2, room 206<BR>Holme Building (A09a) <BR>Footbridge terrace entrance<BR>University of Sydney NSW 2006<BR> <BR><BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>