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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Dear CSAA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">ERA is not dead. The rigidly constructed journal ranking system has been discarded, but ERA 2012 will still happen and will affect us all, especially as it
will have direct financial consequences. So there’s still plenty more to be anxious about, sorry!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">All Best<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">David <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">David Rowe<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au [mailto:csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Mark Gibson (Arts)<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, 1 June 2011 4:00 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [csaa-forum] removal of journal ranking system<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">ERA RIP.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Mark</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On 1 June 2011 14:50, Jackie Cook <<a href="mailto:Jackie.Cook@unisa.edu.au">Jackie.Cook@unisa.edu.au</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Love Paul’s qualitative twist! Try this:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Q: “How many high-profile quantitative research exercises on academic evaluation have the Unit Evaluators completed and published in
peer-refereed journals?”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">A: “They’re really extraordinarily flexible, a product of sector-leading evaluative experiences…”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Expect to hear something very like that, very soon…</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">Jackie Cook</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">UniSA</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt">
<a href="mailto:csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au" target="_blank">csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au" target="_blank">csaa-forum-bounces@lists.cdu.edu.au</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Paul Magee<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, 1 June 2011 2:02 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au" target="_blank">csaa-forum@lists.cdu.edu.au</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [csaa-forum] removal of journal ranking system<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Colleagues,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<br>
I’m still a little confused as to what a ‘unit of evaluation’ is. Is that a new term for ‘academic’?
<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Best<br>
<br>
P<br>
<br>
<br>
Dr Paul Magee<br>
<br>
Associate Professor of Poetry<br>
Faculty of Arts and Design<br>
University of Canberra<br>
ACT 2601<br>
02 6201 2402<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><br>
Australian Government Higher Education (CRICOS)<br>
Registered Provider number: #00212K<br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 1/06/11 11:11 AM, "James Arvanitakis" <<a href="http://J.Arvanitakis@uws.edu.au" target="_blank">J.Arvanitakis@uws.edu.au</a>> wrote:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt">Hey everyone<br>
<br>
I am also pleased with this – though always nervous about what is around the corner<br>
<br>
The journal ranking system has been devastating to emerging researchers. <br>
<br>
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.
<br>
<br>
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?<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Thanks to those who put up a good fight on this<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><i>James Arvanitakis, PhD<br>
</i></b><br>
</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Senior Lecturer - School of Humanities and Languages<br>
Head of Program - Dean Scholars<br>
Research member - Centre for Cultural Research<br>
Member of the Ally Program for GLBIT students<br>
Fellow - Centre for Policy Development<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.jamesarvanitakis.net" target="_blank">www.jamesarvanitakis.net</a></span><span style="font-size:8.0pt"> <<a href="https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jamesarvanitakis.net" target="_blank">https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jamesarvanitakis.net</a>>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><br>
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.<br>
<br>
University of Western Sydney<br>
Rm UG05, Building U<br>
Kingswood Campus<br>
Ph: +61-47360391<br>
Mob: +61-438-454-127<br>
<a href="http://www.uws.edu.au" target="_blank">www.uws.edu.au</a></span><span style="font-size:8.0pt"> <<a href="https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uws.edu.au" target="_blank">https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uws.edu.au</a>>
<br>
</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><br>
<br>
<br>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Consolas">_______________________________________<br>
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<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Dr Mark Gibson<br>
Communications and Media Studies Program<br>
National Centre for Australian Studies<br>
School of Journalism, Australian and Indigenous Studies<br>
Faculty of Arts, Monash University<br>
Caulfield East, Victoria 3145<br>
Australia<br>
<br>
Caulfield Campus, B4.17<br>
<br>
Tel: +61 3 9903 4221<br>
Fax: +61 3 9903 4225<o:p></o:p></p>
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