Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-skzmx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-04T11:57:45.336Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Funding Australian economics research: Local benefits?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Anita Doraisami  and
Alex Millmow
Anita Doraisami*
Affiliation:
Federation University Australia, Australia
Alex Millmow
Affiliation:
Federation University Australia, Australia
*
Anita Doraisami, Federation Business School, Federation University Australia, University Drive, Mt. Helen, Ballarat, VIC 3350, Australia. Email: a.doraisami@federation.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Australia there is a systematic ranking of academic research performance, with a major impact metric being based on publications in prestigious journals. Other countries like Britain with its Research Excellence Framework also have similar metrics. While much analysis and publicity is devoted to the rankings of the quality of research, there has been very little focus on how this ranked research has then gone on to make a public policy impact. In the case of the economics discipline, there has been little exploration of the relationship between publication in a high-ranked journal and contribution to an analysis of Australia’s most pressing economic issues. This article investigates the extent to which articles in the Diamond list of journals from 2001 to 2010 addressed Australian economic issues. Our results indicate that articles on current policy issues accounted for a very modest fraction of total Diamond list journal articles. One possible explanation for this finding, which is investigated further, is the correlation between an economics department’s Excellence in Research Australia ranking and the number of staff who obtained their doctorates from an overseas university. Such a correlation has implications for the status afforded to economics research with a specific national focus.

Keywords

Academic economistsacademic league tableseconomics journal rankingsExcellence in Research Australiaresearch impactresearch qualityA10A11B00B5

Information

Type
Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 511 - 524
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

ACIL Allen Consulting (2013) Benefits realisation review of excellence on research for Australia. Final Report, Report to the Australian Research Council, 27 September. Brisbane: ACIL Allen Consulting.Google Scholar
Adler, NJ and Harzing, AW (2009) When knowledge wins: transcending the sense and nonsense of academic rankings. The Academy of Management Learning and Education 8(1): 72–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Government (2015) National Innovation and Science Agenda: researchers and universities. Available at: http://www.innovation.gov.au/audience/researchers-and-universities (accessed 29 September 2016).Google Scholar
Australian Research Council (ARC) (2015) Glossary of terms for research impact. Available at: http://www.arc.gov.au/sites/default/files/filedepot/Public/ARC/Research%20Impact/Glossary_for_research_impact.pdf (accessed 20 May 2016).Google Scholar
Australian Research Council (ARC) (2016) Excellence in research for Australia. Available at: http://www.arc.gov.au/excellence-research-australia (accessed 27 July 2016).Google Scholar
Bloch, H (2012) An uneven playing field: rankings and ratings for economics in ERA 2010. Economic Papers 31(4): 418–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, W (2015) A young tree dead? The story of economics in Australia and New Zealand. In: Barrett, V (ed.) Routledge Handbook of the History of Global Economic Thought. London: Routledge, pp. 281–293.Google Scholar
Das, J, Do, Q, Shaines, K, et al . (2013) US and them: the geography of academic research. Journal of Development Economics 105: 112–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, S (2013) Excellence in research for Australia: an audit of the applied economics rankings. Agenda 20(2): 5–20.Google Scholar
Diamond, A (1989) The core journals of economics. Current Contents 21(1): 4–11.Google Scholar
Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) (2010) Annual report. Available at: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_2010/outcomes_2010.htm (accessed 16 November 2014).Google Scholar
Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) (2012) Annual report. Available at: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_2012/outcomes_2012.htm (accessed 16 November 2014).Google Scholar
Groenewegen, P and McFarlane, B (1990) A History of Australian Economic Thought. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hussain, S (2015) Journal list fetishism and the ‘sign of 4’ in the ABS guide: a question of trust? Organization 22(1): 119–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, J, Reeves, A and Talbot, S (2014) Has economics become an elite subject for elite UK universities? Oxford Review of Education 40(5): 590–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodewijks, J and Stokes, T (2014) Is academic economics withering in Australia? Agenda 21(1): 69–88.Google Scholar
Marginson, S (2009) The knowledge economy and higher education: rankings and classifications, research metrics and learning outcomes measures as a system for regulating the value of knowledge. Higher Education Management and Policy 21(1): 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millmow, A (2010) The changing sociology of the Australian academic economics profession. Economic Papers 29(1): 87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nedeva, M, Boden, R and Nugroho, Y (2012) Rank and file: managing individual performance in university research. Higher Education Policy 25(3): 335–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neri, F and Rodgers, J (2015) The contribution of Australian academia to the world’s best economics research: 2001 to 2010. Economic Record 91(292): 107–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rafols, I, Leydesdorff, L, O’Hare, A, et al . (2011) How journal rankings can suppress interdisciplinary research: a comparison between innovation studies and business and management. Research Policy 41(7): 1262–1282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, LN (2016) Building on success and learning from experience: an independent review of the research excellence framework, July. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/541338/ind-16-9-ref-stern-review.pdf (accessed 1 September 2016).Google Scholar
UNSW Media Office (2016) UNSW goes global to recruit 600 of the best research minds, 4 March. Available at: http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/general/unsw-goes-global-recruit-600-best-research-minds (accessed 2 September 2016).Google Scholar
Wedlin, L (2006) Ranking Business Schools: Forming Fields, Identities and Boundaries in International Management Education. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, S and Huisman, J (2012) UK business school rankings over the last 30 years (1980–2010): trends and explanations. Higher Education 63(3): 367–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willmott, H (2011) Journal list fetishism and the perversion of scholarship: reactivity and the ABS list. Organization 18(4): 429–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar