RAE 2008 Research Outputs
Each member of staff submitted to RAE 2008 must nominate four
research outputs. These can be: books, chapters in books,
articles in journals, conference contributions, or other formats
including creative media and multimedia, standards documents,
patents, products and processes, items of software, or technical
reports, including consultancy reports. They must have been
published in the period 1.1.01--31.12.07. Our expectation is that
most Informatics staff will choose to nominate four research
publications, but you are encouraged to choose other forms of
output if you have suitable ones. A diversity of output types
will improve our submission.
Your four research outputs are now held in an RAE Publication
Repository managed by the University Library, which is accessible
to registered users only of the University's RAE Data Repository.
Laura McNaught will be
responsible for updating the University's RAE Publication
Repository. However, to simplify her task and ensure that authors
provide all the information required for the RAE, we intend to
continue to use our Informatics@Edinburgh
Publications portal. Please use
the Submission Form
to enter
new RAE research outputs and
the Update
Form to modify existing outputs. You will see that we have
added additional fields to these two forms to ensure that you
provide all the information that the RAE deem to be compulsory.
Laura will be automatically informed that you have done this and
will make the necessary modifications to the University's
Repository. She may need to contact you if she finds that some
compulsory fields are missing.
Those staff who are currently being considered for RAE 2008
submission are listed in our Category A
List and will have received an email from the RAE Coordinator
informing them that they are being considered for RAE 2008
submission. If you are on this list then you should ensure that
any research outputs you are considering nominating are put
into the Informatics@Edinburgh Publications portal and are marked
as potential RAE 2008 research outputs.
How to nominate an RAE 2008 publication candidate
To nominate a research output as a contender for RAE 2008
submission, do the following:
- If it is not already in the publication portal, then enter it using the normal submission mechanism. If it is already entered, then go to the instructions below.
- Under the "In RAE?" section, enter your unix username in the "Login Name" box.
- Estimate a star-level for your publication and choose this option from the drop down menu marked "Star Level".
- Using the box marked "Why I chose this paper", briefly
explain why you chose to nominate this publication.
Note that the information provided in bullets 2, 3 and 4 above
will not be made publically available, but will only be
viewable by those involved in RAE 2008 preparation. Please be as
objective and honest as possible in making your assessment of
both the star level and the reasons for choosing the paper. This
will assist us in advising you which publications to nominate.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I decide what "Star Level" to assign? The official definitions of "star level" are
given below, together with a discussion of how these might be
interpreted.
- How do I nominate a research outlet that is not a
publication. Please contact the RAE Coordinator to discuss
this. I need to discover the extent and nature of non-publication
outputs before I can decide what mechanism is best to record
them.
- I have already entered one of my nominated papers into
the old technical report series. How do I record it as a RAE
nomination? Use the the Update
Form to mark the old paper as an RAE nominated one.
- How can I remove the RAE nomination on one of my
publications? Use the the Update
Form to remove the old paper as an RAE nominated one.
- How can I change the star level or reason for choosing an
RAE nominated paper? Use the the Update
Form to change the star ranking.
- Should I provide a pdf file or a url for my nominated
publication? The expectation is that RAE 2008 will collect
research outputs in electronic form. In RAE 2001 we were required
to supply photo-copies of the published versions of
publications. This time, I expect that the urls of the journal
paper version will be required, so it will save us time if you
supply that to us now, if it exists.
- Are the four research outputs limited to those I produced
while at Edinburgh? No, you can nominate any output
published in the period 1.1.01--31.12.07, even things published
before you came to Edinburgh.
- Can I nominate publications that are not yet
published? Yes, provided you are confident that they will be
published before 31.12.07. However, if they are not published by
then, then they will not count, which will damage our
submission.
- Can two or more people nominate the same publication?
Yes, provided they are all authors. However, if
the authors are all from the same School, then the paper
will only count once. So joint nominations from within Informatics@Edinburgh
will damage our submission and should be avoided, if
possible.
- I have only been research active for part of the census
period 1.1.01--31.12.07. Must I still find 4 research
outputs? No, if you may only need to nominate a number of
outputs proportional to the percentage of time you have been
research active. Legitimate reasons for not having been research
active include: recently entered the field, parental leave,
prolonged illness, etc. If you think this may apply to you, then
please contact the RAE
Coordinator.
- Must all my research outputs be in Computer Science or
Informatics? No, if your work is multi-disciplinary or you
have recently switched fields or for some other reason, then some
of your best outputs may be in another area. You should submit
these. The University of Edinburgh may decide to submit you in
another Unit of Assessment, which better corresponds to the
majority of your outputs, or the Computer Science and Informatics
Subpanel may send some of your outputs to another subpanel for
assessment.
- How do I nominate a research output that is not a
conventional publication? Please add it to the publication
portal following the instructions in the submission form as best
you can. For instance, for a piece of software or data
collection, you will probably want to supply a url of where it
can be downloaded. If you are having difficulty meeting the
implicit assumptions underlying the submission form, please
contact the RAE Coordinator
who will advise you how to proceed.
If you have a question that is not answered above then please
contact the RAE
Coordinator. If your query is generic, I will add the answer
to it to the above FAQ.
Definitions of Star Level
The following definitions are taken from the RAE 2008 Guidance to Panels
document, Appendix D. However, since these definitions are
rather vague, I have put my own gloss on them. This "gloss" is
likely to change as the panels evolve some criteria for assessing
these star levels. For the moment, it's the best I can do.
- Four star (4*) Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
Work that has, or is likely to, make a lasting impact. This is very difficult to assess for recent papers, but a best paper award, for instance, might be take as an indication.
- Three star (3*) Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence.
Work that has been published in one of the leading outlets for this research area. This could be a journal, conference, book series, etc. If you are not sure what are the leading outlets in your field, ask an experienced colleague.
- Two star (2*) Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
Work that has been published in an international archival outlet, but not in a leading outlet.
- One star (1*) Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
Work that has been published in a national outlet or workshop attached to a conference.
- Unclassified (0*) Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment.
Unrefereed work, e.g. a magazine article or technical report.
Alan Bundy