eResearch Research Performance Reporting and Analytics

Research Performance Reporting and Analytics

Research performance reporting can be undertaken at the University, College, Academic Unit, Research Institute/Centre and individual academic level.

This information is used to inform College, Academic Unit and Research Institute/Centre reviews, individual staff development discussions and academic promotion applications.

We will also manage data gathering and report submissions for any future government research assessments.

We can assist with:

  • Creating custom reports for continued monitoring of performance
  • Creating scheduled or regular reporting
  • Establishing custom benchmarking reports in external analytics software
  • Discussing what indicators or metrics are suitable for your performance assessment
  • Assisting with definitions and understanding of research metrics, including how to frame them in a narrative.
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Data Sources

Data may be collected from various internal systems including:

  • Grants, Ethics, Contracts and Outputs (GECO)- Research Funding and Ethics
  • ResearchOnline@JCU - Publications
  • Student Management System (SMS) - HDR advising activity
  • Human Resources Information Management System (HRIMS) - position information.

We may also use external analytical tools, particularly for benchmarking.

JCU subscribes to SciVal an external analytics and benchmarking tool to explore research performance at an institutional or individual basis against a global database. Assistance with using SciVal can be obtained from:

External data sources:

Research Classification

Research classification is required for Government reporting, but also helpful for understanding the different types of research being conducted at JCU and for assessing research performance by discipline.

In most cases, government reporting needs to be made in terms of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) codes.

The ANZSRC is comprised of three classifications developed for research:

Classifies R&D activity according to the type of research effort:

  • Pure basic research – experimental and theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge without looking for long term benefits other than the advancement of knowledge.
  • Experimental development – systematic work, using existing knowledge, which is directed to producing new materials, products, devices, policies, behaviours or outputs; to installing new processes, systems and services; or to improving substantially those already produced or installed.
  • Strategic basic research – experimental and theoretical work undertaken
    to acquire new knowledge directed into specified broad areas in the expectation of practical discoveries.
  • Applied research – original work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge
    with a specific application in view.

The ANZSRC Fields of Research codes are used to classify R&D activity according to the research undertaken. FoR codes are required for both research grants and publications.

When assigning FoR codes:

  • Categorise the nature of the research, rather than the activity of name of the academic unit.
  • Use up to three FoR codes, with appropriate percentages.

For a list of FoR codes, see:

The socio-economic objective classification is used to classify research according to the intended purpose or outcome, rather than the processes or techniques used.

When assigning SEO codes it can help to ask the question “Why are you researching this?”

For a list of SEO codes, see:

Keywords are easily searchable and can be used to group research projects and researchers (especially for ad hoc capability queries). They can also be used (in conjunction with research codes) as another angle of view to create a more detailed picture of the directions in which JCU’s research activities are heading.

Although there is no limit to the number of keywords you can associate with an application, project or publication, a maximum of 6 is suggested.