REF as a destructive exercise

Edward Tsang 2014.12.23

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a government assessment of research quality in UK universities. Unfortunately, the REF is a destructive exercise. It takes time and energy away from researchers. It will prevent UK from producing geniuses like Isaac Newton.

The Research Excellence Framework in UK

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a government assessment of research quality in UK universities. It gives a score to every staff submitted by a university a research rating of 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4, with 0 being the lowest and 4 the highest.

Some believe that books don’t count in research assessment exercises by the UK government, not in science and engineering subjects anyway. Even if they are counted, they are not as highly rated as journal papers. It doesn’t matter whether this is sound. It matters that this is how it is seen.

What Isaac Newton must do in the REF?

If Isaac Newton want to be returned to the next REF, thus keeping his faculty position in Cambridge, he would have to split his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy") into papers and publish them separately.

In order to increase his impact factor, and “h-factor” (whatever it is), Newton is better off working in a clique, who religiously cite each others work. He must also attend conferences to meet members of this clique. He would be more successful had he hung out with these people, because that enhances bonding.

Isaac Newton will also have to seek funding, which is used to rate a researcher. (It is questionable why input, which is basically what funding is, not output, is used to assess a researcher's performance, but let's not go into that here.) If Newton were to seek funding, he will have to make sure that he cites all the influential authors in his proposals. Missing any politically minded referee (with career-threatening pressure from above, many researchers will become politically minded) will damage his chance of getting funded.

The assessment also pays attention to the impacts of an institute’s research. That means, apart from doing research, Isaac would have to demonstrate how his research has impact in the society. He could attempt to convince manufacturers to use his research results in their products.

Could Newton have played the game?

Being a genius, Isaac Newton would know how to play the game, should he want to. But splitting the book into 4 papers takes time. Writing grant applications takes time. Networking takes a lot of time. It would probably affects his mood too, as networking is never his forte. All these will reduce his time and ability to conduct research.

Isaac Newton would probably not have bothered to do well in the above. As a result, Isaac would probably be turned into a teach-only contract, i.e. he will be given a lot of teaching, but no time allowance for research.

The REF is a destructive assessment

The assessment itself reduces a researcher’s capacity to conduct research. Young faculties are being moulded to unhealthy working practices. Geniuses like Isaac Newton are vulnerable, because they do not work like others. It would be sad if the assessment eliminates just one Isaac Newton from history. I suspect it has done more damages than that.

[End]