HERDC: A1 - Book

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Publication weighting: 5 points
Coversheet: A1 - Book HERDC Coversheet (updated January 2008)

The following criteria must be satisfied for a book to be accepted for the HERDC. The information below is based on the 2008 HERDC Specifications for the collection of 2007 data.

A book should also meet the General Publication Requirement for inclusion in the HERDC.

A book:

1. must be published or available in 2007 - the book must have a 2007 copyright, available or published year
2. must meet the HERDC Definition of Research
   Note: many of the books published by professional bodies do not report original research findings but report the results of evaluations, or repackage existing information for the benefit of professionals or practitioners. It is important that these publications are assessed very carefully against the HERDC Definition of Research and that we only count those publications which report research activities.
3. must be a major work of scholarship
4. must be offered for sale - either as a bound hard copy, a packaged CD Rom or an e-book on a subscription or fee basis
5. must have an ISBN - International Standard Book Number
6. must be written entirely by a single author, or by joint authors who share responsiblity for the whole book ie. it is not an edited book
7. must have been published by a Commercial Publisher
8. at least one of the authors must be affiliated with QUT (see section 9.4 - Author Affiliation)

The types of books that may meet the criteria include

• critical scholarly texts (e.g. music, medieval or classical texts)
• new interpretations of historical events
• new ideas or perspectives based on established research findings.

Books unlikely to be meet the criteria

• textbooks
• anthologies
• edited books - chapters should be submitted as category B - Book Chapters
• creative works such as a novel
• translations
• revised or new editions - new chapters should be submitted as category B - Book Chapters

Note: many of the books published by professional bodies do not report original research findings but report the results of evaluations, or repackage existing information for the benefit of professionals or practitioners. It is important that these publications are assessed very carefully against the HERDC Definition of Research and that we only count those publications which report research activities.

Note: many of the books published by professional bodies do not report original research findings but instead report the results of evaluations, or repackage existing information for the benefit of professionals or practitioners. It is important that these publications are assessed very carefully against the HERDC Definition of Research and only those publications which report research activities should be included in the Collection.

How the weighting works

A book is worth 5 points however this is divided equally between the number of authors. If a book has 3 authors who are all QUT staff or students, then each author gets 1.666 author points, and QUT gets 5 points. If a book has 4 authors, 2 QUT staff or students and 2 external authors, each author gets 1.25 author points and QUT gets 2.5 points.

The weighting is automatically calculated on the RM Database and appears on all publication reports.

Also see

• FAQs - Frequently asked questions (updated December 2007)
• A1 - Book HERDC Coversheet
• A1 - Book Verification Material Information
• General Coversheet Guidelines
• HERDC Additional Authors Sheet
• Statement of QUT Affiliation
• HERDC Publications - Instructions for Authors
• HERDC Publications - Instructions for Administrators