Media releases

QUALITY AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE RECOGNISED IN CITATION AWARDS
2 April 2008

Australian researchers who topped scientific citation rankings from 1997 to 2007 were presented with awards at the 2008 Thomson Scientific Citation Awards.

Among the ten winners were four Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science:

  • Professor Brian Schmidt, Australian National University – astronomy and astrophysics
  • Professor Suzanne Cory, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research – biochemistry and molecular biology
  • Chief Scientist Dr Jim Peacock, CSIRO – plant sciences
  • Professor Terence Hughes, James Cook University – marine and freshwater biology

The other winners were: Dr Stuart Batten (Monash University – chemistry); Professor Paul Chandler (University of Wollongong – education); Professor Don Harding (LaTrobe University – economics); Professor Anthony Jorm (Orygen Research Centre at the University of Melbourne – psychiatry); Dr Ian Wright (Macquarie University – ecology); Professor Zheng-Xiang Li (Curtin University of Technology – geosciences).

The Academy congratulates the Fellows and other award winners on their achievement.

The quality of scientific research is measured by how many papers are published in science journals by a researcher or research team and the number of times they have been referenced by other scientists. Journals that publish scientific papers are also ranked depending on their quality and this is factored in to create an overall citation ranking.

This citation ranking system has been used to determine funding allocations for research under the previous Research Quality Framework (RQF) and will also form the basis for the current government's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) system.

The ERA initiative, to be developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in conjunction with the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, will assess research quality using a combination of metrics and expert review by committees comprising experienced, internationally-recognised experts.

For more information on the ERA initiative contact the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research on: +61 2 6213 6000, Toll Free:1800 024 095, www.innovation.gov.au

For further information on Thomson Scientific go to: www.scientific.thomson.com