Dear Jude and David,

The Australian Research Council (ARC) is aware of the new ranking proposal from the Australian Deans of the Built Environment and Design (ADBED). That proposal is based on the work begun with the study posted here and sent to list members on request:

Friedman, Ken, Deirdre Barron, Silvana Ferlazzo, Tania Ivanka, Gavin Melles, and Jeremy Yuille. 2008. Design Research Journal Ranking Study: Preliminary Results. Melbourne, Australia: Swinburne University of Technology Faculty of Design.

ADBED took the study forward in dialogue with the ARC to shape a better journals list. Steve Basson from Curtin University did a major amount of work on the interim ADBED project. Kees Dorst of University of Technology Sydney took the design program forward for the later iterations and the final trial lists.

While the final list for the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise is still in development, it is much improved for the trial ERA, and it will likely be improved further. 

The 2008 report did what we set out to do. We helped to launch a debate, developing a useful resource for the next stages of the conversation. ADBED made good use of the information in the report. ARC has the ADBED lists. ADBED gives us a far better position for dialogue with the ARC than a single report because ADBED represents the deans of most Australian university faculties of design and the built environment. ADBED speaks for us all in our dialogue with the ARC, and we speak as one voice through ADBED. Moving these issues forward has been an extensive and serious process, and dozens of people in ADBED and the ADBED committees have done great work. I'm happy with Kees Dorst's final report. 

For several methodological and practical reasons, the final ADBED list does not mirror the 2008 study, but it does two important things. First, it offers a responsible view from the design discipline, incorporating both Australian and worldwide opinion. While the 2008 study did this to a great degree, it was quick and dirty. We intended it to spark dialogue and reflection for a better national, and it did what we intended. We had the added benefit of helping designers and design research scholars in other nations with similar projects for university or national queries. Second, ADBED is the high-level voice of the field, and that means the ADBED list has a role in the national debate that no single university research project can have. Our project seems to have had significant impact in the field, but ADBED has had voice and standing with the ARC.

At some point, we will get a server system for such reports. Right now, we're working on several different initiatives, and there was no real need to get the report onto a server. Most people that want it know where to write for a copy.

This was quick and dirty -- useful and pragmatic while necessarily problematic and incomplete. The final, properly developed reports will be released as peer reviewed articles in an appropriate venue.

Warm wishes,

Ken

Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean

Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia

Telephone +61 3 9214 6755 
www.swinburne.edu.au/design

 



Jude Chua wrote:

>Perhaps it might be possible to alert the Australian research academies of this ranking?
>I was frustrated to see Design Studies (here ranked A*) ranked as a B journal by the ARC-ERA journal ranking.
>
>(I'm a philosopher and I read that journal, and it's fascinating and stimulating stuff in there.)

--

David Durling wrote:

>Ken,
>
>Put it on a server so everyone can find it?
>
>David