End of an ERA - journal ranking scrapped by Australian politician

Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Kim Carr has announced the scrapping of journal rankings as part of a shake up of the Excellence in Research for Australia initiative. Carr said he wanted to address the contested nature, and improper use of these quality rankings. His action in scrapping the system could be read to imply the belief that, in the absence of surefooted people or an effective fence at the top, nothing at the bottom of a cliff is a better option than an ambulance.

The value of journal ranking and impact factors has been the subject of debate for many years, and such systems are admittedly less than perfect. Chastizing the research community - as the Australian newspaper reported Carr as doing - for learning to 'play a system' that is imposed without necessarily making sense is one way to address the problem. The scenario is not unfamiliar.

I hope Minister Carr's move has cleared the way for a process of broad consultation to devise new measures of quality through transparent collaborative process. I hope any new measures make obvious sense to people whose work they relate to, and reflect the value of publishing in up and coming, national, and specialized journals as well as the ones that were top of the class ten years ago. Last time I looked into how rankings were determined, I found none of these factors in place.

Quotes that 'these reforms will strengthen the role of the ERA Research Evaluation Committee members in using their own, discipline-specific expertise to make judgments about the journal publication patterns...' and 'the change empowered committee members to use their expert judgment to take account of nuances in publishing behavior' do little to instill confidence.

If I believed that experts on committees knew everything there is to know about the realities of life on the research 'factory floor' I might have more faith in the prospects. I really hope what happens next will expose me as a change_resistant_bore!

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