Research Performance Reporting and Analytics

JCU’s research performance is reported at the University, Division, School, Research Institute/Centre and individual academic level.

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

The Research Information team also collates the Annual Publication Collection.

Contact research.information@jcu.edu.au to discuss your internal reporting requirements in more detail.

The Research Information team is responsible for assisting with the data gathering and report submissions for

• Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)
• Research Engagement and Impact Submissions (REI)

Customised research performance reports (i.e. for publications, research income and HDR student supervision data) may be requested by contacting research.information@jcu.edu.au and outlining your requirements, the reporting period, and your requested due date.

For information required on a regular basis, the Research Information team can create automated reports scheduled according to your needs. Contact research.information@jcu.edu.au, outlining your reporting requirements, the reporting period, and your preferred frequency.

Internal benchmarking data is available from the Research Performance Data Portal (login required).

JCU also subscribes to SciVal which allows JCU staff and students to perform benchmarking of research performance at an institutional or individual basis against a global database. Assistance with using SciVal can be obtained from:

• The JCU Library LibGuide – What is SciVal?
• Your friendly Liaison Librarian

The University is required to report to Government on all research activity undertaken at JCU. In most cases, the 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.

Type of Activity (ToA)

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.

Where possible, a research project or research program should be allocated to a single type of activity. If the project or program is large and involves multiple types of activity, then each relevant activity category should be attributed percentage relative to proportion of the project’s or research program’s total R&D expenditure.

For example:  90% strategic basic research; 10% applied research

Field of Research (FoR)

The ANZSRC Fields of Research codes are used to classify R&D activity 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.

The categories in the classification include recognised academic disciplines and related major sub-fields taught at universities or tertiary institutions, major fields of research investigated by national research institutions and organisations, as well as emerging areas of study. While this classification includes specialised fields of national interest, it generally reflects the overall structure of disciplinary fields.

FoR codes are required for both research grants and publications. At least one FoR code (and up to a maximum of three) 6-digit classifications are need: A research funding approval form cannot be processed by the JCU Connect Grants team, and account numbers cannot be issued without research codes; Each research publication needs FoR codes to be supplied by researchers before records can be processed by the ResearchOnline team.

• Field of Research Codes (ABS official page - opens in new window)
• FoR Codes (table form for easy of look up)

Socio-Economic Objectives (SEO)

The socio-economic objective classification allows R&D activity in Australia and New Zealand to be categorised according to the intended purpose or outcome of the research, rather than the processes or techniques used in order to achieve this objective.