Publications are central to the business of an academic institution. They represent an important way for:
- academics to communicate new findings
- academics to achieve advancement and grant funding
- the College to rank itself with respect to similar institutions thus providing a method of marketing and a way to secure donor support.
To provide a framework for the College which promotes scholarship through publications.
This policy applies to the College’s senior management, Director of Research, faculty and honourary members of staff, research collaborators and students. This policy will have implications for ad hoc appointments committees.
A publication means a stand-alone scholarly document. Typically a publication is a written journal article, chapter or book. However the definition must be broadened to include the diverse disciplines represented at Eastern College Australia. Adapted from the Commonwealth Dept. of Education and Training &(Higher Education Research Data Collection - HERDC) and the University of Melbourne the defining qualities of a publication is that it:
- is scholarly in nature in so much as it emerges from the discipline’s literature and is presented in such a way as that source material can be traced
- is an original contribution to the discipline
- has withstood peer review through mechanisms including a journal publication process, conference organising committee, acceptance by a commercial publisher, gallery etc
- increases the body of knowledge
exists in a form in which the knowledge contained within it can be disseminated.
1. The College affirms the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) publication types and rankings (http://www.arc.gov.au/excellence-research-australia).
2. The College affirms the following ERA publication types in descending order of importance: authored scholarly book; scholarly book chapter; journal article; refereed article generated as part of a conference presentation. In some disciplines non-traditional publication types are acceptable. These are: original creative works; live performance of creative works; recorded/rendered creative works; curated or produced substantial public exhibitions and events; and research reports for an external body. The importance of a publication with respect to each non-traditional type is to be substantiated by the academic.
3. The College affirms ERA rankings of various journals within each scholarly discipline.
4. The College considers it normal for doctorally qualified faculty members to be actively growing their publication record. As a guide, it is to be considered normal for a full-time faculty member to produce two publications per year, with the number of publications reducing on a pro-rata basis. However, it is understood that publication rates fluctuate and therefore when assessing a faculty member’s publication record reference must be made to a number of factors including:
a. the faculty member’s duties within the College;
b. the faculty member’s access to opportunity; and
c. publication type, rank and citations generated in so much as a single large (or prestigious) publication may take longer to produce but be more valued than two brief publications.
5. Where possible, research activities involving student researchers should be designed to generate publishable findings. Assessments should therefore conform to the standards of primary research journal articles and/or publishable literature reviews when possible.
6. The College seeks to encourage publication through a Research Encouragement Scheme. The ability of the Research Encouragement Scheme to function is dependent upon College finances. The College will provide permanent paid faculty who are to present orally at an international conference an amount for conference/publication-related expenses. This payment will be made only once per calendar year per person. Similarly, an amount will be provided to permanent paid faculty for research/publication-related expenses for each scholarly publication. The amount given in either instance is to be set by the College Board annually in the College budget. To access the Research Encouragement Scheme a faculty member is to write to the Director of Research attaching appropriate evidence. This request will be assessed by the Research Encouragement Scheme Committee. The Committee will respond to the academic’s request in writing in a timely manner following its next meeting.
7. The College reserves the right to use any publication generated by faculty under the auspices of Eastern College Australia in College marketing/advertising.
8. The College recognises that publication is a key criteria for academic advancement and will consider the number, type and ranking of publications if advancement is sought and available.