How productive are we?
An analysis of Australian academics in education

This paper aims to provide information about productivity in one discipline, demonstrates the range of data available, presents procedures for assessing quality, and provides baseline information - albeit only for research productivity in one discipline In the past decade Australian universities have witnessed a rapid transformation of the concept of accountability from a mere catchcry to specific measures for determining quality performance (Linke, 1991; Piper, 1983). While this transformation has occurred separately and uniquely within universities its potentially most powerful manifestation can be seen with the creation of the Commonwealth's Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (Quality Committee). Charged with the responsibility of distributing up to $80 million as rewards and incentives for enhancing quality, the newly formed Committee is searching for appropriate ways to determine and measure high performance within Australian universities. Such a search requires an understanding of the present status of productivity, and in the discipline of education relatively little is known about the performance of its members, the range of activities, and the nature of the outputs. The basis of this paper is to provide some evidence about the reputation and productivity of Australian academics located within faculties and departments of education in an Australian educational context. The present study primarily uses an Australian data base to assess the impact of Australian academics in education. Although the local data base is most extensive and exhibits high face validity for the Australian context, there is an obvious trade- off and limitation in that international contributions are excluded. It should be emphasised that this is a limitation and not a damnation, as the aim of this study is to complement the earlier and other studies by focussing upon an Australian context. Further, this paper will demonstrate the power of using other than USA-based databases to comment on the status of publishing by Australian academics in education within Australia.