What is ERA (Excellence in Research in Australia)?
ERA is a research assessment exercise being conducted from 2010 by the Australian Research Council (ARC). It will evaluate the entire research output of Australian Universities, evaluating published work – journal articles, conference papers, books and book chapters and creative works. The principle of what constitutes research coincides with the criteria for the annual Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC). The research output records submitted for HERDC (via CRO) will form the bulk of information uploaded to ERA. Field of Research (FoR) based discipline clusters are being used to group outputs. Trials of two of these clusters, PCE – Physical Chemical and Earth Sciences and HCA – Humanities and Creative Arts have been completed in 2009. Full ERA will commence in early 2010, and will include ALL clusters. It is imperative therefore that during 2009 all records on CRO are reviewed, checked and fixed so that when full ERA occurs the information is as accurate as possible. Fur
