The 1996 Research Assessment Exercise for Business and Management

Abstract

A substantial component of government funding for university research in the UK is now based upon an evaluation of the quality of research being conducted in each university, on a subject by subject basis. This paper describes the processes involved in the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) for business and management studies. It is argued that the strength of the current process lies in the peer review of the quality of research outputs. In addition, some of the issues needing to be resolved in undertaking such an exercise are described and evaluated. Finally, based on the authors' exposure to the full range of management research currently being conducted in the UK, some suggestions are made regarding future research directions.

The role of academic journal publications in the UK Research Assessment Exercise

“…38 By the 2001 exercise, the debate on journal quality had become so widespread that the following appeared on the RAE website's Frequently Asked Questions: In 2001, no panel used a hierarchy of types of output. 40 For example, panels could not make the assumption that work presented in academic journals is necessarily of higher quality than work presented in conference papers or in reports for companies.…”

Journals, scholarly communication and the RAE: A case study of the business and management sector

“…Exactly 100 submissions were received from 96 Business Schools or departments under UoA 43(BMS). Over 8000 pieces of cited work (14) , including 5494 journal articles, were submitted for assessment by the BMS panel. These articles form the basis of analysis in this study.…”

“…Panel criteria gave no guidelines as to how journals would be judged, the only guidance exacted by the BMS panel was "there appeared to be no option other than attempting to assess whether a particular piece of work was of 'world-class' standard, even if it had been published in a more 'local' journal" (8) . This move to qualitative assessment placed great reliance on the professional judgement of the subject specialists on the panel, and presumably required that all work in unfamiliar journals should be read in order to be assessed.…”

Classements, capitalisme académique et affects des chercheurs en gestion

“…Framework) (RAE, 2006(RAE, , 2008Cooper & Otley, 1998). Cette littérature est essentiellement britannique.…”