Research impact: context and drivers

Internationally, emphasis is often placed on the measurable impact of research.  In Australia, factors behind this include:

• economic conditions and increasing competition for government funding
• national initiatives to measures the academic excellence of research (e.g. past Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative* from Australian Research Council (ARC))
• general concern to improve the operation of the national innovation system
• need to demonstrate to the public that research funds are well-spent 

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  *ERA 2018 included Engagement & Impact Assessment.  This "examined how universities are translating their research into economic, social and other benefits and encourage greater collaboration between universities, industries and other end-users of research".  In this context, the ARC used the following definitions: 

Engagement: the interaction between researchers and research end-users outside of academia (including governments, businesses, non-governmental organisations, communities and community organisations), for the mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge, technologies,  methods or resources.

Impact: the contribution that research makes to the economy, society, environment or culture, beyond the contribution to academic research.

See: http://www.arc.gov.au/engagement-and-impact-assessment 

Take Action! Maximise your Research Impact

• Develop a publishing strategy at an early point in your research project - how, when and where will you communicate your research findings?
• Aim to get published in high-impact, peer-reviewed sources that are esteemed within your discipline - learn more about selecting publishing outlets
• Find opportunities to share your research via Open Access e.g.
  • publish in a journal under a Read & Publish Agreement
  • submit your publications to an open-access repository (OAR via Elements deposit)
  • publish descriptions of your datasets to the University's metadata repository for discoverability.

Evidence of scholarly impact may be demonstrated in the form of bibliometrics - traditional publication metrics.  Are your publications being cited?  Are you publishing in peer-reviewed journals with wide, international readership?  See associated tabs on Citation Analysis and Journal Impact for more information.

Has it influenced policy or industry? Your evidence of impact will need to describe WHAT the impact was and WHO the impact affected.  Impact evidence should show what has actually happened and not be aspirational.  

Research Activity Evidence Table

Learning and Research Librarians can help identify and search for the following types of research activity evidence:

Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics

Before seeking or interpreting research metrics, become familiar with these ten principles proposed for the measurement of research performance: the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics published as a comment in Nature, v520, 23 April, 2015.

1. Quantitative evaluation should support qualitative, expert assessment

2. Measure performance against the research missions of the institution, group or researcher

3. Protect excellence in locally relevant research

4. Keep data collection and analytical processes open, transparent and simple

5. Allow those evaluated to verify data and analysis

6. Account for variation by field in publication and citation practices

7. Base assessment of individual researchers on a qualitative judgement of their portfolio

8. Avoid misplaced concreteness and false precision

9. Recognize the systemic effects of assessment and indicators

10. Scrutinize indicators regularly and update them.