Title: Ranking the outcomes from the assessment of research in the UK

Authors: Anthony Kelly

Addresses: School of Education, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

Abstract: The Research Excellence Framework (REF), previously the |RAE|, is an assessment undertaken on behalf of the UK government to gauge the quality of research in universities. It is a public display of reputation that carries with it considerable risk in terms of losing face and funding. The 2008 RAE focused on three categories of research output quantified on a common scale and ranked by the national media (and internally by universities) using an arbitrary weighting system. Using data from |Education| as an example, this paper develops an alternative |justified| weighting system for possible use in the forthcoming (2014) REF.

Keywords: university rankings; weighting systems; REF; research excellence framework; RAE; research assessment exercise; R&D; research and development; UK; United Kingdom; central government; research quality; reputation; education funding; research outputs; common scales; national media; arbitrary weightings; justified weightings; education management; higher education; universities; KM; knowledge management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2012.044002

International Journal of Management in Education, 2012 Vol.6 No.1/2, pp.74 - 87

Published online: 20 Dec 2014 *

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