The State of Australian University Research 2018–19: ERA National Report provides the outcomes of the fourth round of ERA. This report represents an important program of work—evaluating the quality of Australian university research, benchmarked against world standards in a comprehensive way.
ERA is a national research evaluation system and, as such, is a comprehensive assurance mechanism for providing confidence to Government and the Australian public about their investment in Australian university research. The ERA 2018 outcomes show that Australian universities are not only maintaining the quality of their research, but also are continuing to improve—with more disciplines rated at world standard or higher right across the discipline spectrum. This report identifies where our research strengths lie, across all universities and disciplines.
ERA 2018 also shows continued growth of the sector since the last ERA evaluation in 2015. For ERA 2018, data for over 506,000 unique research outputs and 76,000 researchers were collected from the 42 participating universities. There were 2,603 units of evaluation assessed, including 1,926 four-digit and 677 two-digit disciplines.
With four full rounds of ERA complete, we now have extended longitudinal data on Australia’s research system. This covers 14 years of research output data and 11 years of research income and applied measures data at a detailed level.
This rich data provides insights into key areas of change and growth in the university research sector over time and emerging trends. This report shows that not only has the volume of research output increased, but the quality has been maintained or improved. In addition, the number of units of evaluation has increased, reflecting increasing depth and breadth of Australia’s research. The longitudinal ERA data collection will enable deep analysis of developments across the sector, for example, developments in the research workforce regarding academic levels and gender—all down to the discipline level. Over the coming year the ARC will release additional analysis of the longitudinal data, providing further insights into the state of Australian university research.
The release of select university submission data for the first time in ERA 2018 also continues our commitment to ensuring ERA is robust and accountable. Not only will this increase transparency, but it will also provide access for this data to be used in new and interesting ways.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the continued support the ARC receives from the research sector. ERA would simply not be possible without this support. In addition to the work of all universities during the submission stages, there were 150 Research Evaluation Committee members and almost 1000 peer reviewers from Australia and overseas appointed to conduct the evaluations.
It is this strong sectoral engagement that helps to ensure confidence that ERA continues to be a rigorous and effective measure of research quality in Australia’s universities. The commitment of all those involved in the ERA process, including the ARC ERA staff, deserves recognition.
I hope that universities, industry and other research users all make use of the valuable information provided by this latest snapshot of university research.
Professor Sue Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Research Council
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Research Council