1. General Requirements   

The University must report the total number of books, book chapters, journal articles and conference papers to the Commonwealth Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR).

In determining the University’s allocations, from the Research Training Scheme, Institutional Grants Scheme, the Australian Postgraduate Awards and the Commercialisation Training Scheme, DIISR will weight books 5:1 compared with the other research publication categories.

To be counted, each research publication must:

• meet the definition of research (section 3 below)
• only be counted once
  (e.g. if a conference paper is published in conference proceedings and is subsequently included as a chapter in a book, it can be counted as a chapter or as a conference paper but not both)
• be characterised by:
  • substantial scholarly activity, as evidenced by discussion of the relevant literature, an awareness of the history and antecedents of work described, and provided in a format which allows a reader to trace sources of the work, including through citations and footnotes
  • originality (i.e. not a compilation of existing works)
  • veracity/validity through a peer review process or by satisfying the commercial publisher processes
  • increasing the stock of knowledge
  • being in a form that enables dissemination of knowledge

The author of the research publication must be affiliated with the University of Queensland (as set out in section 4 below).

Only research publications published by current and former staff and students of the university, who meet the affiliation requirements set out in section 4, should be reported.

The publications data collection is designed to measure the relative research output of institutions across a specified selection of publication categories. To be included in the collection, each UQ author must show that they were affiliated with the university during the time the research leading to publication was conducted.

Publications may be in printed or electronic format.

For categories other than Book Chapters, where there are multiple authors, the count must be apportioned according to the number of authors. For example, if there are three authors of a publication, one third should be counted for each author who was a staff member or student of the University of Queensland.

For Book Chapters, the apportioning of points will be calculated by the RRTD. Schools, centres and institutes are not required to make this calculation, however if you wish to know how the points are allocated, please refer to B - Book Chapters for the formula used.

Publications must meet the HERDC definition of Publication Year (see section 5 below).

Earlier publications that have not been recorded in previous collections, will be used for bibliographic purposes only (i.e. they will not accrue DIISR weightings if they do not meet the DIISR definition of Publication Year).

2. Verification material

Verification material must be maintained to demonstrate that research publications meet the criteria against the categories being reported. The University must retain verification material for six years to facilitate any audit of research publications data that may be conducted by DIISR.

3. Definition of Research

For the purposes of these specifications, research comprises:

• creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications
• any activity classified as research which is characterised by originality; it should have investigation as a primary objective and should have the potential to produce results that are sufficiently general for humanity's stock of knowledge (theoretical and/or practical) to be recognisably increased. Most higher education research work would qualify as research.
• pure basic research, strategic basic research, applied research and experimental development.

Activities that support research and meet the definition of research include:

• provision of professional, technical, administrative or clerical support and/or assistance to staff directly engaged in research
• management of staff who are either directly engaged in research or are providing professional, technical or clerical support or assistance to those staff
• activities of students undertaking postgraduate research courses
• development of postgraduate research courses
• supervision of students undertaking postgraduate research courses

Activities that do not support research must be excluded, such as:

• preparation for teaching
• scientific and technical information services
• general purpose or routine data collection
• standardisation and routine testing
• feasibility studies (except into research and experimental development projects)
• specialised routine medical care
• commercial, legal and administrative aspects of patenting, copyright or licensing activities
• routine computer programming, systems work or software maintenance (research and experimental development into applications software, new programming languages and new operating systems would normally meet the definition of research)

4. Author Affiliation

The author of the research publication being counted must be affiliated with the University of Queensland and must be identified either within or on the work being claimed.

Where author affiliation with the University of Queensland is not identified within a work, the following evidence retained in verification material would be sufficient to demonstrate author affiliation and should include:

• a statement from the author indicating that he or she undertook the research leading to the publication in his or her capacity as a staff member or student of the University

And either:

• a statement from the Director of Human Resources or Dean of Students (or equivalent) indicating that the author was an appointee or student of the University in 2009 (or earlier if that was when the research leading to the publication was conducted) or
• an extract from the University's staff or student list that lists the author. (RRTD may be able to assist with obtaining this extract. If you need assistance please contact biblio@research.uq.edu.au)

Adjunct fellows, honorary staff members and staff on leave are considered affiliated with the University if the University is identified in the by-line.

Where a publication shows that an author has affiliation to more than one institution (e.g. Janet Harvey, Tutor in Economics, University of Queensland; PhD student, University of Y), each Australian University named in that by-line can count the publication in its respective Research Publication Collection.

5. Year of Publication

The fundamental principles that underpin the publications data are:

• The publication is claimed in the appropriate year
• The year of publication must be verifiable
• The publication is claimed once only

To be able to count publications in the 2010 submission of Research Publications:

• the research must have been published in the 2009 calendar year, and
• 2009 must be stated as the year of publication within or on the work being claimed

The definition of published, in this context, is the date the publication was released to its intended audience. Letters from authors, editors, creators etc stating that a research publication was published in 2009, even though 2009 is not stated within or on the work as the year of publication, are not acceptable evidence of the year of publication. There are two exceptions:

• For journal articles and/or conference publications that are produced on CD-ROM or are web-based, where no year of publication is stated within or on the work: here, a letter from a journal editor or conference organiser may be accepted to identify the year of publication. Note: this applies only to journal articles or conference publications where no date is stated within or on the work being claimed. A letter from an editor or conference organiser cannot override a year of publication stated within the work. 
• The date a conference was held may be acceptable evidence of the year of publication, provided no other date exists within or on the conference publication being claimed.

It should be noted that copyright dates or 'date last updated' that appear on web pages do not typically refer to a research publication included on that page. Web page dates should not be used as evidence of the year of publication.

Copies of pages showing the stated year of publication must be included in verification material.

6. Expanded Year of Publication Definition (Subject to the 2010 HERDC Specifications)

The University can also include 2008 publications in their submission of 2009 publications data. Only those publications which:

• were published after the submission date for the 2008 data collection (30 June 2009); and
• contain a 2008 publication date

may be included under this provision.

Publications from 2007 and earlier years are not eligible to be included under this provision.

Verification evidence must be supplied that the publication was not produced until after the submission date for that year's publication return. i.e. that the publication, although containing a 2008 publication date, was not published until after 30 June 2009. A letter from the publisher will be considered sufficient verification material to support the claim.

7. Commercial Publisher

The concept of a commercial publisher is used as a surrogate test of quality for books and book chapters in place of a peer review requirement.

For the purposes of these specifications, a commercial publisher is an entity for which the core business is producing books and distributing them for sale.

If publishing is not the core business of an organisation but there is a distinct organisational entity devoted to commercial publication and its publications are not completely paid for or subsidised by the parent organisation or a third party, the publisher is acceptable as a commercial publisher.

For the purposes of these specifications, University and other self-supporting Higher Education Provider presses are also regarded as commercial publishers, provided that they have responsibility for the distribution of the publication, in addition to its printing.

A register of acceptable commercial publishers is available on the Reference Lists webpage.

This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all acceptable publishers. The University will need to be satisfied that a publisher not on the list satisfies the criteria for a commercial publisher in order for its publications to be counted.

Please note that  DIISR is no longer maintaining the Register of Commercial Publishers.  The requirements for verification material are unchanged and the most recent updates of the registers will continue to be available. However DIISR will no longer accept nominations to add to the Register of Commercial Publishers.

8. Peer Review

For the purposes of the HERDC, an acceptable peer review process is one that involves an assessment or review of the research publication in its entirety before publication by independent, qualified experts. Independent in this context means independent of the author.

Peer review is relevant for journal articles and conference publications counted in the HERDC.

For journal articles, any of the following are acceptable as evidence of peer review:

• the journal is listed in one of the Institute for Scientific Information indexes.
• the journal is classified as “refereed” in Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory (Volume 5 - Refereed Serials) or via Ulrich’s website.
• the journal is included in DIISR's Register of Refereed Journals - accessible from the Reference Lists webpage (please note DIISR no longer updates this register)
• there is a statement in the journal which shows that contributions are peer reviewed
• there is a statement or acknowledgement from the journal editor which shows that contributions are peer reviewed
• a copy of a reviewer's assessment relating to the article

Note: A statement from an author that a publication was peer reviewed is not acceptable. The existence of a national or international advisory board is also not sufficient evidence that all relevant publications were assessed by members of it.

For books and book chapters, the concept of a commercial publisher (as defined in section 7) is used as a surrogate test of quality in place of a peer review requirement.

9. DEST Register of Refereed Journals

The Register of Refereed Journals is a list of journals that satisfy the peer review requirements as defined in section 8 above.

Note: inclusion on the Register (or the ISI or Ulrich's listings) does not automatically allow all articles in such journals to be counted in the collection. Inclusion only indicates that refereeing requirements have been satisfied. Other requirements for the relevant category must also be met.

10. Foreign Language Publications

Foreign language publications are eligible to be counted. The same verification evidence is required, in English, as for any other works. It is not necessary to translate the entire publication, but all relevant sections required for the verification of information to demonstrate that it meets the criteria of the category against which it is being claimed. This includes evidence that the work meets the definition of research.

11. Electronic Works

Electronic works are eligible to be counted, provided they meet all of the relevant criteria in these specifications for the publications category against which they are being claimed.