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:

  1. 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.
  2. Under the "In RAE?" section, enter your unix username in the "Login Name" box.
  3. Estimate a star-level for your publication and choose this option from the drop down menu marked "Star Level".
  4. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.

Alan Bundy


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