Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) - FAQ
The Higher Education Research Data Collection is run by the Department of Education, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) - previously DEST - and comprises research income and research publications data submitted by universities each year.
Full details on HERDC (including the UNSW Publication Users' Manual and HERDC Specifications) can be found on the Research Services website.
Who should read this?
Academics who wish to be informed about how HERDC is managed by FIPRAS and the HERDC eligibility rules.
What is the reason for the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC)?
Perpetual Collection?
HERDC Categories?
What happens if there is more than one Author across multiple schools?
Author Affiliation?
Affiliation to more than one institution?
How is data collected?
What is required for HERDC submission?
Who updates the material on the Database?
Why is a hard copy of the publication necessary?
Forgotten if you have provided the information and verification material?
What is the reason for the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC)?
Publications which have one or more UNSW author, and which satisfy the criteria set out in the HERDC categories are included in the scores reported to DEEWR (previously DEST) and used in the allocation formulae for government funding under the Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS) and Research Training Scheme (RTS). We commonly refer to these funds as part of the Research Quantum. Over the last four years the value per point has varied from $1400 to $896 in the 2007 distribution.
Perpetual Collection?
To maximise the collection, while minimising the workload, schools are expected to forward publications, with verification material attached in small bundles at regular interval throughout the year.
HERDC Categories?
While UNSW collects data in 24 categories only four are required for the annual HERDC statistics as follows:
Book – Authored Research (A1) [cover sheet]
Book Chapter – Commercial Publisher (B) [cover sheet]
Journal Article – Refereed, Scholarly Journal (C1) [cover sheet]
Conference Publication – Full Paper, Refereed (E1) [cover sheet]
[Note: Book (A1) is worth 5 points, other categories are worth 1 point]
What happens if there is more than one Author across multiple schools?
All Schools involved receive credit for their contribution to all publications. Points are distributed in proportion to the umber of authors from each school.
Author Affiliation?
Normally consideration is given to the affiliation of the author at the time the research that led to the publication was conducted.
Institutional affiliation is demonstrated by the naming of UNSW in the author’s by-line. A footnote or statement in the publication indicating that the research leading to publication was undertaken in the author’s capacity as a staff member or student (either undergrad or postgrad) of UNSW is also sufficient proof of affiliation. If UNSW is not named in the by-line see clause 4.4.2 of the User Manual.
Affiliation to more than one institution?
Where the by-line shows that an author has affiliation to more than one institution, each Australian university named in the by-line can claim the publication at full value.
How is data collected?
The Research Office collects data about publications from the internet. This means that they'll know of the existence of some of your publications. However, they don't have enough information to verify them, and there are others that they won't know about at all unless you tell them.
You need to supply detailed informaton about all of your publications. This done by submitting the below documents to the FIPRAS office.
What is required for HERDC submission?
All submissions must be an original plus a copy. The reason for this is that School archives the copy and the original is submitted to the research office.
All submissions must include the following documents:
1. UNSW HERDC publication cover sheet fully completed. (No fields are to be left blank).
Book – Authored Research (A1) [cover sheet]
Book Chapter – Commercial Publisher (B) [cover sheet]
Journal Article – Refereed, Scholarly Journal (C1) [cover sheet]
Conference Publication – Full Paper, Refereed (E1) [cover sheet]
You are also required to provide a RCFD code on the cover sheet.
[example]
2. Title page
This is the front page of the proceedings/journal/book/cd.
[example]
3. Table of contents (please highlight your item)
This is whole table of contents, please do not forget to highlight your paper.
[example]
4. Proof of the national or international significance of the conference
This is usually discussed in the Chairs Message for Forward located in the front of the publication. It talks about submissions etc from around the globe.
[example]
5. Proof of refereeing
Copy of the referees report and also the list of reviewers.
6. Preface and/or Introduction
This is usually located in the front of the publication.
[example]
7. List of all Conference committee members
This is usually located in the front of the publication.
[example]
8. Publication data (ISBN etc) and publisher information
This is usually located either in the front or back of the publication. If not found here, you could try on-line, e.g.
on the conference or publisher's web page(s). It needs to reflect ISSN/ISBN and all relevant publication information: place of publication, copyright and how to obtain a copy of the publication.
[example]
9. Full Copy of the paper
This needs to be the actual paper published in the publication, not a print off from your computer.
If you find you are unable to provide some items of the required information from the actual proceedings/journal/book/cd, try searching on line.
Who updates the material on the Database?
Data entry is completed in the School. Errors are verified and validated until all records are accurate.
Why is a hard copy of the publication necessary?
All hard copy HERDC items are forwarded to UNSW Research Services to be verified and held for possible Audit.
Forgotten if you have provided the information and verification material?
The ReseachMaster Web Interface Software does not provide the user with a tool for extracting data and receiving the results as a file. Data lists will need to be requested through FIPRAS who will be able to access information on the FIPRAS database that is maintained to track submission of information and verification material.
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