1. RQF outcomes in sciences Gavin Moodie, Principal Policy Adviser Vice Chancellor’s office

2. 2 RQF outcomes in sciences Thomson Scientific’s data UK research assessment exercise Method UK data Results Conclusion

3. 3 Thomson ISI Thomson Corporation founded in 1934 US$8.7 billion in law, education, finance and science ISI founded by Eugene Garfield in 1954 ISI indexes, abstracts and counts citations Thomson acquired ISI in 1992

4. 4 Thomson’s web of knowledge Journal Citation Reports Highly cited authors Current contents connect Web of science

5. 5 Thomson Scientific’s web of science Indexes of 8,700 journals in science, social science, and arts and humanities It is selective: 10% - 12% of all refereed journals ISI indexed 50% of publications reported to Dest in maths and economics in 1991, < 10% in arts and law

6. 6 ISI’s coverage of the 2001 RAE Unit% articles% articles ISI% ISI Biology97.999.196.4 Physics96.291.690.8 Mech eng92.892.082.8 Sociology52.359.931.3 Politics50.855.924.8 Law52.118.78.2

7. 7 Research Assessment Exercise In 1986, 1989, 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2008 68 units of assessment Each researcher submits best 4 outputs Rated: 5*, 5, 4, 3a, 3b, 2, 1

8. 8 Method Extract publication counts from Thomson Scientific Map Thomson’s ‘subject category’ to ABS’ RFCD Selected UK universities for comparison

9. 9 UK universities chosen for study (1) UniversityFoundedLocatedStudentsSHJT rank Aberdeen1495NE Scotland13,500301-400 Brighton1992SE England19,000 Brunel1966W London13,000 Cambridge1209E England17,0002 City Univ1966N London11,500

10. 10 UK universities chosen for study (2) UniversityFoundedLocationStudentsSHJT rank Coventry1992W midlands17,000 East Anglia1964E England13,000153-202 Keele1992W midlands6,500 LJ Moores1992NW England24,000 Stirling1967Centre Scot9,000 Warwick1965W midlands15,500203-300

11. 11 UK results for biology (1) UniversityArticlesVolumeRAE rating Cambridge2,944Very high5*, 5*, 5, 5, 5 Aberdeen2,007High5 East Anglia1,153High5 Warwick1,090High5 Stirling766Medium4

12. 12 UK results for biology (2) UniversityArticlesVolumeRAE rating LJ Moores332Low Keele317Low4 Brunel277Low4 Brighton219Low City103Very low Coventry78Very low2

13. 13 UK results for physics (1) UniversityArticlesVolumeRAE rating Cambridge2,654Very high5* Warwick1,305Very high5 Brunel454High LJ Moores360High4 Keele348High3a

14. 14 UK results for physics (2) UniversityArticlesVolumeRAE rating East Anglia186Medium City183Medium4 Aberdeen155Low Coventry119Low Brighton89Low3a Stirling35Very low

15. 15 UK results for mech eng (1) UniversityArticlesVolumeRAE rating Cambridge348Very high Brunel243Very high5 Warwick166High Aberdeen101Medium LJ Moores94Medium3a

16. 16 UK results for mech eng (2) UniversityArticlesVolumeRAE rating City71Low4 East Anglia70Low Keele54Low Coventry43Low3a Brighton29Very low Stirling4Very low

17. 17 Australian results by institution Go8 have most disciplines with high and very high volumes of articles indexed by Thomson Scientific Most newer universities have low or very low volumes of articles indexed by Thomson Scientific Newcastle and Macquarie do better than expected U of Melbourne engineering worse than expected

18. 18 Australian results by discipline Chemistry, maths and physics dominated by go8 Psych and computing stronger in newer universities Environmental sciences stronger in Australia than in the UK

19. 19 Conclusions Go8 likely to do well in RQF Newer universities not likely to get much from RQF Strong correlation between citations and RAE ratings in experimental disciplines But difficult to predict how universities construct their units of assessment/groupings