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Funding Australian economics research: Local benefits?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Anita Doraisami  and
Alex Millmow
Anita Doraisami*
Affiliation:
Federation University Australia, Australia
Alex Millmow
Affiliation:
Federation University Australia, Australia
*
Anita Doraisami, Federation Business School, Federation University Australia, University Drive, Mt. Helen, Ballarat, VIC 3350, Australia. Email: a.doraisami@federation.edu.au
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Abstract

In Australia there is a systematic ranking of academic research performance, with a major impact metric being based on publications in prestigious journals. Other countries like Britain with its Research Excellence Framework also have similar metrics. While much analysis and publicity is devoted to the rankings of the quality of research, there has been very little focus on how this ranked research has then gone on to make a public policy impact. In the case of the economics discipline, there has been little exploration of the relationship between publication in a high-ranked journal and contribution to an analysis of Australia’s most pressing economic issues. This article investigates the extent to which articles in the Diamond list of journals from 2001 to 2010 addressed Australian economic issues. Our results indicate that articles on current policy issues accounted for a very modest fraction of total Diamond list journal articles. One possible explanation for this finding, which is investigated further, is the correlation between an economics department’s Excellence in Research Australia ranking and the number of staff who obtained their doctorates from an overseas university. Such a correlation has implications for the status afforded to economics research with a specific national focus.

Keywords

Academic economistsacademic league tableseconomics journal rankingsExcellence in Research Australiaresearch impactresearch qualityA10A11B00B5
Type
Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 511 - 524
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016

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