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<TITLE>Re: [csaa-forum] removal of journal ranking system</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>ERA RIP.<BR>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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Mark<BR>
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On 1/06/11 11:11 AM, "James Arvanitakis" <<a href="J.Arvanitakis@uws.edu.au">J.Arvanitakis@uws.edu.au</a>> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Hey everyone<BR>
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I am also pleased with this – though always nervous about what is around the corner<BR>
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The journal ranking system has been devastating to emerging researchers. <BR>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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Thanks to those who put up a good fight on this<BR>
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<B><I>James Arvanitakis, PhD<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="1"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9pt'>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>
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www.jamesarvanitakis.net</SPAN><SPAN STYLE='font-size:8pt'> <<a href="https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jamesarvanitakis.net">https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jamesarvanitakis.net</a>> <BR>
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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>
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University of Western Sydney<BR>
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www.uws.edu.au</SPAN><SPAN STYLE='font-size:8pt'> <<a href="https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uws.edu.au">https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uws.edu.au</a>> <BR>
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