IMPACT AND SUBJECT DIFFERENCES

Jack Meadows

Loughborough University

Definition of Impact

REF14An effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia

RQF The beneficial application of research to achieve social, economic, environmental and/or cultural outcomes

Research Assessment v Impact Assessment

Differences - for example* Local History

* Applied Mathematics

Comments from Pilot Study

Panels are likely to take into account the relative contribution of research from different institutions to an impact where these are clearly of a different order.

HE physics up to 1,000 authors

T. Aaltonen23, A. Abulencia24, J. Adelman13, T. Affolder10, T. Akimoto55, M. G. Albrow17, S. Amerio43, D. Amidei35, A. Anastassov52, K. Anikeev17, A. Annovi19, J. Antos14, M. Aoki55, G. Apollinari17, T. Arisawa57, A. Artikov15, W. Ashmanskas17, A. Attal3, A. Aurisano53, F. Azfar42, P. Azzi-Bacchetta43, P. Azzurri46, N. Bacchetta43, W. Badgett17, A. Barbaro-Galtieri29, V. E. Barnes48, B. A. Barnett25, S. Baroiant7, V. Bartsch31, G. Bauer33, P.-H. Beauchemin34, F. Bedeschi46, S. Behari25, G. Bellettini46, J. Bellinger59, A. Belloni33, D. Benjamin16, A. Beretvas17, J. Beringer29, T. Berry30, A. Bhatti50, M. Binkley17, D. Bisello43, I. Bizjak31, R. E. Blair2, C. Blocker6, B. Blumenfeld25, A. Bocci16, A. Bodek49, V. Boisvert49, G. Bolla48, A. Bolshov33, D. Bortoletto48, J. Boudreau47, A. Boveia10, B. Brau10, L. Brigliadori5, C. Bromberg36, E. Brubaker13, J. Budagov15, H. S. Budd49, S. Budd24, K. Burkett17, G. Busetto43, P. Bussey21, A. Buzatu34, K. L. Byrum2, S. Cabrera16,j, M. Campanelli20, M. Campbell35, F. Canelli17, A. Canepa45, S. Carillo18,b, D. Carlsmith59, R. Carosi46, S. Carron34, B. Casal11, M. Casarsa54, A. Castro5, P. Catastini46, D. Cauz54, M. Cavalli-Sforza3, A. Cerri29, L. Cerrito31,f, S. H. Chang28, Y. C. Chen1, M. Chertok7, G. Chiarelli46, G. Chlachidze17, F. Chlebana17, I. Cho28, K. Cho28, D. Chokheli15, J. P. Chou22, G. Choudalakis33, S. H. Chuang52, K. Chung12, W. H. Chung59, Y. S. Chung49, M. Cilijak46, C. I. Ciobanu24, M. A. Ciocci46, A. Clark20, D. Clark6, M. Coca16, G. Compostella43…………………..

International collaboration by UK authors

Papers with a non-UK co-author as a % of output: 18.5% [1997]; 32.1% [2004]

Author Subject

Biochemistry Psychology Economics SociologyOne author [%] 19 45 83 75Two authors [%] 46 36 16 21Three authors [%] 22 15 1 3Four authors [%] 13 4 0 1

Media/Public Interest

* Perceived relevance to audience* Accessibility of subject* Pretty pictures* Query - problems of attribution

Modes of Communication

One-to-one One-to-many Many-to-manyTraditional X X ? IT X X X

What government really wants from academics is ‘wise advice’. It is this wise council that means academics are extensively used by government on advisory boards, expert panels, as witnesses and panel chairs.  ..... these ‘academic service’ roles can sometimes not be directly related to the academics core research ..... policymakers explicitly want academic expertise rather than necessarily the results of a specific piece of research (or even set of research findings). However these expertise or academic service roles are not always considered in themselves to be evidence of impact by the REF process.

* Informal modes of communication often have greater impact* IT excellent for informal communication

Documented Evidence [A & B]

A [Medicine and Biological sciences] * Documented evidence of influence on health policy * Critical reviews in the media Plus another fourteen points B [Physical sciences and Engineering] * Documented evidence of policy debate * Traceable reference to inclusion of research in industry standards/ guidance Plus another twelve points

Documented Evidence [C & D]

C [Social sciences] * Improvements to legal and other frameworks * Development of resources to enhance professional practice

D [Humanities] * Publication and sales figures, web-site hits, etc. * Citations in reviews outside academic literature

Twitter and Research

Tweet about each new publication, website update or new blog that the project completes. To gauge feedback, you could send a tweet that links to your research blog and ask your followers for their feedback and comments.

Blogs

Seed Media Group's Research Blogging Awards honor the outstanding bloggers who discuss peer-reviewed research. With over 1,000 blogs registered at ResearchBlogging.org and 10,000 posts about peer-reviewed journal articles collected, it is time to recognize the best of the best.