The College was one of 22 pilot institutions that took part in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) bibliometrics pilot, commencing in July 2008, which was set up to test the feasibility, methods and approaches of using citation data to assess research performance.  The full list of institutions that took part in the REF bibliometrics pilot is available on the Funding Council's website.

Various information can be downloaded below.

Timeline for the REF Bibliometrics Pilot
Deadline Activity
 25 July 2008 HEIs provide estimate of REF pilot feasibility to HEFCE
Agree format for data submission
 August 2008  HEIs submit initial databases:
 - Table 1: data on research staff
 - Table 2: currently available publication lists
 - Table 3: Links between staff and outputs (optional)
 August - October 2008 Contractors (Evidence) identify additional outputs
HEIs validate additional outputs identified by the contractors
 November 2008- March 2009 Contractors (Evidence) carry out citation analysis using WoS
HEFCE carry out citation analysis using SCOPUS
 Summer 2009 Outcomes of the REF pilot disseminated
 
Summary of the table's contents

Outcomes

HEFCE’s summary of the pilot stated that “bibliometrics are not sufficiently robust at this stage to be used formulaically or to replace expert review in the REF.  However there is considerable scope for citation information to be used to inform expert review.

Following the pilot HEFCE published the Outcomes of the REF Bibliometrics pilot (HEFCE, September 2009) which presents the work undertaken to develop the bibliometrics element of the Research Excellence Framework.

Further information on the bibliometrics pilot is available on the REF pages of the Funding Council's website.