IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/rseval/v23y2013i1p1-11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The New Zealand performance-based research fund and its impact on publication activity in economics

Author

Listed:
  • David L. Anderson
  • John Tressler

Abstract

New Zealand's academic research assessment scheme, the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), was launched in 2002 with the stated objective of increasing average research quality in the nation's universities. Evaluation rounds were conducted in 2003, 2006 and 2012. In this article, we use 22 different journal weighting schemes to generate output estimates of refereed journal article and page production for three 6-year periods (1994--9; 2000--5 and 2006--11). These periods reflect a pre-PBRF environment, a mixed assessment period, and a pure PBRF research environment, respectively. Our findings indicate that, on average, research productivity, defined in either article or page terms, has increased since the introduction of the PBRF. However, this outcome is due to a major increase in the quantity of articles and pages produced per capita that has more than off-set a decline in the quality of published outputs since the introduction of the PBRF. In other words, our findings suggest that the PBRF has failed to achieve its stated goal of increasing average research quality, but it has resulted in substantial gains in productivity achieved via large increases in the quantity of refereed journal articles. Copyright The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2013. "The New Zealand performance-based research fund and its impact on publication activity in economics," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:23:y:2013:i:1:p:1-11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/reseval/rvt017
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2013. "The Relevance of the “h-” and “g-” Index to Economics in the Context of A Nation-Wide Research Evaluation Scheme: The New Zealand Case," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(1), pages 81-94, March.
    2. Pantelis Kalaitzidakis & Theofanis P. Mamuneas & Thanasis Stengos, 2011. "An updated ranking of academic journals in economics," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 1525-1538, November.
    3. David L. Anderson & Warren Smart & John Tressler, 2013. "Evaluating research -- peer review team assessment and journal based bibliographic measures: New Zealand PBRF research output scores in 2006," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 140-157, August.
    4. John Tressler & David L. Anderson, 2012. "Citations as a Measure of the Research Outputs of New Zealand's Economics Departments: The Problem of 'Long and Variable Lags'," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 19(1), pages 17-40.
    5. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Laurent Linnemer, 2010. "Inferring Missing Citations: A Quantitative Multi-Criteria Ranking of all Journals in Economics," Working Papers halshs-00520325, HAL.
    6. Joseph Macri & Dipendra Sinha, 2006. "Rankings Methodology for International Comparisons of Institutions and Individuals: an Application to Economics in Australia and New Zealand," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 111-156, February.
    7. Tim Hazledine & Cliff Kurniawan, 2005. "Efficiency of New Zealand universities and the impact of the performance based research fund," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 153-179.
    8. Tom Coupé, 2003. "Revealed Performances: Worldwide Rankings of Economists and Economics Departments, 1990-2000," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(6), pages 1309-1345, December.
    9. Kodrzycki Yolanda K. & Yu Pingkang, 2006. "New Approaches to Ranking Economics Journals," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-44, August.
    10. Clive Beed & Cara Beed, 1996. "Measuring the Quality of Academic Journals: The Case of Economics," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 369-396, March.
    11. Laband, David N & Piette, Michael J, 1994. "The Relative Impacts of Economics Journals: 1970-1990," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 640-666, June.
    12. Liebowitz, S J & Palmer, J P, 1984. "Assessing the Relative Impacts of Economic Journals," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 77-88, March.
    13. A. Peter W. Hodder & Catherine Hodder, 2010. "Research culture and New Zealand’s performance-based research fund: some insights from bibliographic compilations of research outputs," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(3), pages 887-901, September.
    14. John Gibson, 2000. "Research productivity in New Zealand university economics departments: Comment and update," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 73-87.
    15. M.R. Mathews & Alan Sangster, 2009. "Exporting the RAE: adoption of similar practices in Australia and New Zealand," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(2), pages 115-135, July.
    16. John Gibson & John Tressler & David L. Anderson, 2008. "Do Research Assessment Exercises Raise the Returns to Publication Quality? Evidence from the New Zealand Market for Academic Economists," Working Papers in Economics 08/11, University of Waikato.
    17. Peter Abelson, 2009. "The Ranking of Economics Journals by the Economic Society of Australia," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 28(2), pages 176-180, June.
    18. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2008. "Research Output in New Zealand Economics Department 2000-2006," Working Papers in Economics 08/05, University of Waikato.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Robert A. Buckle and John Creedy, 2018. "The Impact on Research Quality of Performance-Based Funding: The Case of New Zealand’s PBRF Scheme," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 25-48.
    2. David I Stern, 2014. "High-Ranked Social Science Journal Articles Can Be Identified from Early Citation Information," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(11), pages 1-11, November.
    3. Stephan B. Bruns & David I. Stern, 2016. "Research assessment using early citation information," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 917-935, August.
    4. Robert A. Buckle and John Creedy, 2018. "The Impact on Research Quality of Performance-Based Funding: The Case of New Zealand’s PBRF Scheme," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 25-48.
    5. Robert A. Buckle & John Creedy & Norman Gemmell, 2020. "Is external research assessment associated with convergence or divergence of research quality across universities and disciplines? Evidence from the PBRF process in New Zealand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(36), pages 3919-3932, July.
    6. Buckle, Robert A. & Creedy, John & Ball, Ashley, 2020. "A Schumpeterian Gale: Using Longitudinal Data to Evaluate Responses to Performance-Based Research Funding Systems," Working Paper Series 9447, Victoria University of Wellington, Chair in Public Finance.
    7. Fokina, Tatiana (Фокина, Татьяна), 2016. "Evaluation of the results of scientific workers: the experience of New Zealand [Оценка Результатов Деятельности Научных Работников: Опыт Новой Зеландии]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 143-156, February.
    8. Robert A. Buckle & John Creedy, 2019. "The evolution of research quality in New Zealand universities as measured by the performance-based research fund process," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 144-165, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2017. "Researcher rank stability across alternative output measurement schemes in the context of a time limited research evaluation: the New Zealand case," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(45), pages 4542-4553, September.
    2. John Gibson & David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2017. "Citations Or Journal Quality: Which Is Rewarded More In The Academic Labor Market?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1945-1965, October.
    3. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2015. "Are Researcher Rankings Stable Across Alternative Output Measurement Schemes in the Context of a Time Limited Research Evaluation? The New Zealand Case," Working Papers in Economics 15/10, University of Waikato.
    4. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2011. "The Merits of Using Citations to Measure Research Output in Economics Departments: The New Zealand Case," Working Papers in Economics 11/11, University of Waikato.
    5. David Anderson & John Tressler, 2008. "Research output in New Zealand economics departments 2000-2006: A stock approach," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 155-189.
    6. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2011. "Ranking Economics Departments In Terms Of Residual Productivity: New Zealand Economics Departments, 2000–2006," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 157-168, December.
    7. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2009. "The Excellence in Research for Australia Scheme: An Evaluation of the Draft Journal Weights for Economics," Working Papers in Economics 09/07, University of Waikato.
    8. John Tressler & David L. Anderson, 2012. "Citations as a Measure of the Research Outputs of New Zealand's Economics Departments: The Problem of 'Long and Variable Lags'," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 19(1), pages 17-40.
    9. John Gibson & David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2014. "Which Journal Rankings Best Explain Academic Salaries? Evidence From The University Of California," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(4), pages 1322-1340, October.
    10. Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2016. "Taking the Temperature: A Meta-Ranking of Economics Journals," MPRA Paper 68933, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Joseph Macri & Michael McAleer & Dipendra Sinha, 2009. "On the Robustness of Alternative Rankings Methodologies For Australian and New Zealand Economics Departments," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-660, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    12. Lutz Bornmann & Alexander Butz & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2018. "What are the top five journals in economics? A new meta-ranking," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(6), pages 659-675, February.
    13. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2010. "The Merits of Using Citation-Based Journal Weighting Schemes to Measure Research Performance in Economics: The Case of New Zealand," Working Papers in Economics 10/03, University of Waikato.
    14. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2013. "The Relevance of the “h-” and “g-” Index to Economics in the Context of A Nation-Wide Research Evaluation Scheme: The New Zealand Case," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(1), pages 81-94, March.
    15. Ho Fai Chan & Bruno S. Frey & Jana Gallus & Benno Torgler, 2013. "Does the John Bates Clark Medal boost subsequent productivity and citation success?," ECON - Working Papers 111, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    16. Robert A. Buckle & John Creedy, 2019. "The evolution of research quality in New Zealand universities as measured by the performance-based research fund process," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 144-165, May.
    17. Joseph Macri & Dipendra Sinha, 2006. "Rankings Methodology for International Comparisons of Institutions and Individuals: an Application to Economics in Australia and New Zealand," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 111-156, February.
    18. Damien Besancenot & Abdelghani Maddi, 2019. "Should citations be weighted to assess the influence of an academic article?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 435(1), pages 435-445.
    19. David L. Anderson & John Tressler, 2009. "The ‘Excellence in Research for Australia’ Scheme: A Test Drive of Draft Journal Weights with New Zealand Data," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 7-24.
    20. Leeves, Gareth D. & Poon, Wai Ching, 2015. "Chinese universities economic research output 2000–2010," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-9.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:23:y:2013:i:1:p:1-11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/rev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.