ERA Round 2
Welcome to ANZAM’s new blogsite! Please use this blog for discussions regarding the development of management research, education and practice.
As a professional academy for management, the ANZAM Executive is particularly concerned with improving the profile and recognition of the management discipline in the broader academic and governmental agendas. For example, the disparity between the number of academics in Australia and New Zealand researching and teaching within the management discipline and their presence and profile in national research bodies (such the ARC in Australia) is a significant problem for the development of the discipline. One pertinent indicator of this is the last-minute decision by the ARC to downgrade our journal (JMO – the Journal for Management & Organisation) from a B to C for the initial ERA Round. This was done despite clear evidence (from ISI Impact factors and other international quality rankings) that JMO should be at least a B-ranked journal, and possibly an A-ranked journal. If the quality and impact of our journal is recognised by international agencies, it seems peculiar that such recognition is not forthcoming from our domestic quality rankings.
As an academy we need to everything we can to ensure that the ARC addresses this error in its recently announced review of journal ranking in preparation for ERA Round 2. Individual members and fellows should lobby the ARC through their respective Universities. ANZAM members who are also members or fellows of other academies (such as the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia) should use these channels to also raise the issue with the ARC. Through its connection with BARDsNET (the Business Academic Research Directors Network) and the ABDC (Australian Business Deans Council) the ANZAM Board will be pursuing this issue vigorously in 2011. It is very much in the interest of all members and of the discipline generally in Australia and New Zealand that JMO’s ranking is addressed in the upcoming review.
Cheers
Ross Chapman
ANZAM President, 2011