Using a balanced approach to bibliometrics: Quantitative performance measures in the Australian Research Quality Framework

Australia is about to move to a new system of distributing government block grants for research among universities, with the introduction of a process similar to Britain's Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). One of the most significant departures from the current RAE model is that, in the Australian Research Quality Framework, peer judgements will be informed by quantitative performance measures, including bibliometrics. The data will not be used in any formulaic way, but will sit alongside the assessment of other information provided to discipline panels - contextual information provided by the groups being assessed, the full text of the publications they regard as their 'best', and a full list of publications produced in the assessment period. This paper details the metrics to be used in this new framework and outlines some of the reasons why a balanced approach to research assessment was adopted.