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Absolute differences between institutions remain large, and conclusions are not unduly sensitive to the chosen database.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/australian-universities-research-output-are-the-newer-institutions-catching-up/595452/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/australian-universities-research-output-are-the-newer-institutions-catching-up/595452.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Blitz","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":30},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What time period and data sources does the study use to measure research performance?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"It examines annual output from Australian universities over 2004–2008 and measures research performance using two databases: Thomson Reuters ISI and Scopus.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What does the study find about convergence between newer and traditional research-intensive universities?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The study finds some convergence in research publications, with newer universities catching up in growth rates. However, large output differences still remain in absolute terms.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How does the choice of database affect the study’s conclusions?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The findings are not unduly sensitive to the choice of database, meaning the overall results are consistent across ISI and Scopus.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},595452,1792603991,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":30,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":96,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nResearch output of Australian universities:  \nare the newer institutions catching up?  \nRoss Williams  \nMelbourne Institute, University of Melbourne  \nTwo decades on from the abolition of the binary divide in higher education in Australia, what has happened to the relative research performance of institutions that started from quite diverse positions? We use two databases, Thomson Reuters ISI and Scopus, to measure growth rates in research output. We find that there has been some convergence in research publications, with the newer universities catching up on the traditional research-intensive universities. No Go8 university is in the top quartile of growth rates. In absolute terms, however, the output differences remain very large. The findings are not unduly sensitive to the choice of database.  \nIntroduction  \nThe abolition of the binary divide in higher education in Australia is now two decades old. Institutions have now had time to adjust to new mission statements and financial incentives. In the 1990s the former colleges of advanced education were still adapting to the new requirements, especially in research and research training. At the same time, many established universities were preoccupied with bedding down changes arising from amalgamations and takeovers. With the greater stabilization of the system in the last decade, now isan appropriate time to look at whether there has been any convergence in the research performance of Australian universities.  \nResearch funds have for many years been allocated competitively but, more recently, federal governments have signalled that performance will play an  \nincreased role in government funding of research. The disbandoned Research Quality Framework (RQF) has been replaced by the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative.  \nWith government funding for teaching Australian undergraduate students, stagnant and full-fee undergraduate places are now not permitted, Australian universities can increase revenue from three sources: international students, fee-paying postgraduate students, and research funds. An improved research performance increases income from all three sources: directly from research funding allocations, indirectly through an improvement in international rankings and its effect on fee-paying student demand.  \nThe financial incentives are for less research-intensive universities to improve their research output; in relative terms this is easier to do from a low base. Some convergence in research performance is there-  \n32 Research output of Australian universities: are the newer institutions catching up?, Ross Williams vol. 52, no. 1, 2010  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nfore expected as, unlike many European and Asian countries, federal governments have not chosen to fund selected institutions at a higher rate for either teaching or research.  \nThe measurement of research performance is a key driver of international rankings and will become of greater importance in allocating government research funds in Australia with the phasing in of the Sustainable Research Excellence in Australia (SRE) initiative. It follows that the attributes of the databases used to measure performance are of growing importance. Two databases dominate the measurement of research performance: the ISI Web of Knowledge, provided by Thomson Reuters, and Scopus, provided by Elsevier.  \nThe two most objective measures of international research performance are based on Thomson Reuters’ISI: Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJT) and the rankings by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) . The other popular ranking has been Times Higher Education-QS which, although based primarily on surveys, in recent years used Scopus to derive its quantitative measures. From 2010 the Times Higher Education rankings are to be totally rethought and the database will change to Thomson Reute","cbCaisFiGR5IDd1U","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisFiGR5IDd1U","pdf",148234,"English","# Introduction\n## Research measurement and databases\n## Data sources and publication categories\n## Research performance ranking frameworks","[{\"question\":\"What time period and data sources does the study use to measure research performance?\",\"answer\":\"It examines annual output from Australian universities over 2004–2008 and measures research performance using two databases: Thomson Reuters ISI and Scopus.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the study find about convergence between newer and traditional research-intensive universities?\",\"answer\":\"The study finds some convergence in research publications, with newer universities catching up in growth rates. However, large output differences still remain in absolute terms.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the choice of database affect the study’s conclusions?\",\"answer\":\"The findings are not unduly sensitive to the choice of database, meaning the overall results are consistent across ISI and Scopus.\"}]","Australian Universities’ Research Output - are the newer institutions catching up? | PDF",1792081170,13]