National Research Classification
Type of Activity
- RFCD
- SEO - ANZSIC - National
Research Priorities - Queensland
R&D
Priorities - Areas of Research Strength - Keywords
Released on March 31, the new Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) was developed during the past 18 months by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).
“The new classification is more closely aligned to research currently being undertaken in Australia and New Zealand and will enable greater accuracy in data collection and analysis, especially in emerging fields of research such as nanotechnology and climate change,” Senator Carr said. “It is important that a consistent research classification system is used across government, the higher education sector and the private sector to ensure a uniform understanding of discipline areas; improve data reporting and resource allocation; enhance effective communication; and allow for benchmarking of data.
The ANZSRC contains about 40 per cent more research codes than the 1998 Standard Research Classification it replaces. The former RFCD codes have been updated with Field of Research (FoR) codes, and the socio-economic objective (SEO) codes refreshed.
The ANZSRC was developed in collaboration with Statistics New Zealand following extensive consultation with users of the previous classification. Development was guided by a technical reference group comprising representatives from the ARC; the former Department of Education, Science and Training; CSIRO; the National Health and Medical Research Council; the New Zealand Ministry of Research, Science and Technology; Universities Australia; the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies; and the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
The ARC and ABS will conduct a joint roadshow in Australian capital cities during May 2008 to raise awareness and understanding of the ANZSRC in the higher education sector.
For the time being, the new codes and the translations form old to new are stored over 4 worksheets in a downloadable Excel workbook called FoRandSEO2008.xls (436 Kb)
These classifications are also used for internal analysis of trends
in research direction and focus.
Type of Activity (TOA)
The Type of Activity classification allows R&D activity to be
categorised
according to the type of research effort, namely, pure basic
research,
strategic basic research, applied research and experimental
development.
Research Fields, Courses &
Disciplines (RFCD)
The categories in the Research Fields, Courses & Disciplines
classification
include recognised academic disciplines & related major sub-fields,
major fields of research and emerging areas of study. While this
classification includes specialised fields of national interest, it
generally
reflects the overall structure of disciplinary fields.
R&D activity is classified according to the research
undertaken.
In this respect, it is the nature of the R&D itself that is
being categorised, rather than the purpose of the R&D or the
activity
of the performing unit.
Socio-economic Objective (SEO)
The Socio-economic Objective classification allows R&D data to
be classified according to the perceived purpose. The SEO
categories take account of processes, products, health, education and
other
social and environmental aspects of particular interest.
The Australian and New Zealand
Standard Industrial
Classification (ANZSIC) has been developed
for use in both countries for the production and analysis of industry
statistics.
There has been extensive consultation to ensure that the ANZSIC
reflects
the structure of Australian and New Zealand industry and user
requirements
for statistics. The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the New
Zealand
Department of Statistics encourage organisations to use the
classification
in order to improve the comparability and usefulness of
statistics.
In the development of the ANZSIC emphasis has been placed on alignment
with the international standards. The International Standard
Industrial
Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Revision 3, has been
used as the international standard for reference purposes.
National and Queensland Research
Priorities
On 5 December 2002, the Prime Minister announced four National
Research Priorities and their associated priority goals:
-
An Environmentally Sustainable Australia;
-
Promoting and Maintaining Good Health;
-
Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian
Industries;
and
-
Safeguarding Australia.
These four areas provide a vision for research by focusing research
effort
on key challenges for Australia today and into the future. They build
on
strengths while seeking new opportunities in emerging areas. They will
also strengthen collaboration between research bodies and with
industry,
and build critical mass of excellence in those key research areas.
All research and research funding bodies of the
Commonwealth are expected
to participate in implementing the priorities to the extent that it is
consistent with their mandates or missions.
On 22 April 2003, the Queensland Government approved
fixed priorities
for future research and development.
The Queensland Research and
Development
Priorities apply to research conducted by Queensland
Government
agencies as well as the allocation of Government funding to external
R&D
organisations.
The Priorities target research in key areas of existing
strength and
competitive advantage, recognise emerging areas of opportunity and
need,
provide an increased focus on sustainability and will generate positive
environmental, economic and social outcomes for Queensland.
The Priorities are multidisciplinary in nature and will
require a mix
of science and technology, and social science and humanities
research.
Internal Research
Classification
Areas of Research
Strength
The current areas of research strength are the result of a competitive
research prioritisation process involving two major criteria:
-
strategic significance (including regional relevance and international
standing), and
-
research capacity (including infrastructure and research performance).
On this basis, five areas of research strength are identified for
2003.
Keywords
Hierarchically sorted keywords can be used as extra 'code' to create
a more detailed picture of the directions in which JCU’s research
activities
are heading.
Classification of Research
using Codes
Each research project is to be given at least one (1) SEO,
RFCD,
TOA,
NRP,
QRDP,and
a AoRS code. JCU’s Research Information
Management
System enforces the use of research codes for all research-based data:
a grant application (pending or successful) cannot be processed,
account
numbers not issued, publications not submitted nor quantum calculated
without
research codes.
MAKE SURE TO BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE.
The RFCD and SEO Classification is arranged in a
hierarchical structure.
Divisions, disciplines and subjects are each assigned a six-digit
code:
The first two uniquely identify a (sub)division. Disciplines
are uniquely identified by the first four digits, and each subject has
a unique six-digit code.
Please be aware that the ARC, NHMRC and JCU do not
accept grant applications
submitted with RFCD and SEO codes ending in "00" (or discipline
level).
If none of the specific codes match, use the "not elsewhere classified"
subject code ending in "99".
You may either browse through local HTML versions of
codes, or you may
download or browse a PDF version on either the ARC or the ABS
website.
External Sites
-
ABS
Australian Standard Research Classifications (ASRC)
-
Abbreviated Listings (Australian Research Council Site):
Research
Fields, Courses and
Disciplines Classification
Socio-economic Objective Classification
- ABS
Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)
Codes
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