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Research Output Reporting

Information on UniSC reportable publication schemes.

Non-Traditional Research Outputs Submission Guidelines

A Non-Traditional Research Output (NTRO) offers a valuable and important contribution to general knowledge and understanding, and to UniSC’s vibrant research culture.

The NTRO Steering Committee

UniSC has established an NTRO Steering Committee to evaluate NTROs in a systematic, timely and ongoing manner.

The NTRO Steering Committee consists of staff members representing a range of schools, primarily those most likely to produce NTROs. Staff from UniSC Library’s Research Bank and the Office of Research's Research Performance Team play an important role on the committee and have assisted in establishing a set of processes that ensure fair and equitable evaluation of NTROs.

The committee will:

  • consider the impact and significance of a work or portfolio,
  • prioritise quality (over raw numbers),
  • assert the quality of each submission,
  • assess/record overall quality levels, and
  • ensure NTROs are categorised accordingly in Research Bank.

UniSC's preferred standard for traditional research outputs is long-form journal articles published in journals rated in Q1 by Scimago, indicating placement in the top quarter within their respective disciplines. Additionally, UniSC values articles with high FWCI scores at the article level, reflecting their impact relative to similar papers over time. This dual approach ensures both immediate recognition through acceptance in prestigious journals and long-term impact through citation analysis.

Similar to quality ratings for standard academic papers, UniSC has established a ranking mechanism from NT1 to NT4 for NTROs. These range from internationally recognised works (NT1) to nationally (NT2), regionally (NT3) or locally impactful contributions (NT4).

While UniSC acknowledges and honours NTROs, staff are urged to also publish via traditional research outlets. Doing so can provide additional evidence of peer review and validation for the NTROs.

On this page:

What Counts as Research?

Research entails systematic work to discover new knowledge or innovative application of existing knowledge to generate new concepts, methodologies, inventions, and understandings. It is a creative and methodical process aimed at advancing the stock of knowledge and/or devising novel practical applications.

What Counts as an NTRO?

The committee will recognise NTROs where the output meets the following criteria:

  • The underlying activity for the output must meet the definition of research as well as established disciplinary practices in non-traditional research.
  • There must be evidence of peer review, or its equivalence, which can be based on selection through competitive review processes, recognition through awards judged by a panel of peers, through significant scholarly or industry review, or by commissioning of the work, for example.
  • The activity should not be the result of an activity that is ostensibly coursework, teaching or involves student-produced work or work by students/for assessment.
  • The activity must produce an output that is presented publicly to an external (to UniSC) venue or outlet and not be considered self-publishing.
  • The activity should be a sustained endeavour, typically over a few months to a year (or longer term for major creative works). Smaller works should be grouped as a collection or series of works attached or responding to the same research theme. These will have the potential to become ERA portfolios.

The NTRO that is submitted for assessment must be submitted to the UniSC Research Bank, along with a research statement and accompanying evidence. The activity must conform to one of the following NTRO categories:

  • original creative works (e.g., visual artwork, textual work)
  • live performance of creative works (e.g., play, dance)
  • recorded/rendered creative works (e.g., audio/visual recording, digital works)
  • public exhibitions and events (e.g., exhibition, festival)
  • reports (particularly where they might contribute knowledge to industry).

Sway: Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs)

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This resource was created by

Tricia King, Leah Barclay, Briony Luttrell and Hannah Banks.

The NTRO Steering Committee

The Committee will judge and reach consensus about submissions using these criteria:

  • originality/innovation
  • a contribution to the stock of knowledge
  • research methodology
  • an appropriate level of theoretical and conceptual rigour
  • venue/outlet with broad (inter)national recognition
  • demonstrated quality
  • timely and significant
  • influential in and/or impactful beyond the academic field
  • evidence of peer review of international standing
  • of significant scale relative to its form
  • claims made are specific and realistic.

The NTRO Steering Committee meets four times per year.  Please see MyUniSC for details about NTRO Submission Dates and Drop In Session Dates.

UniSC NTRO Classification

The NTRO Steering Committee will classify submissions according to the following rankings:

NT1 Major - works of significant scale and major international standing
NT2 Standard - works of national standard
NT3 Works of national standing, but small in scale, and regional works
NT4 Works of local significance
NR Works that are not research - this may apply to teaching-related material or other content not meeting the ERA definition of research

Some activities, works and/or research statements will be returned to researchers for additional evidence or clarification and classified initially as Returns. This categorisation covers work that would benefit from re-evaluation by the researcher following peer feedback.

Assessment of NTROs is, therefore, more likely to align with those determinations of quality associated with traditional research outputs where only a small percentage of outputs are determined at a Q1 level.

Researchers are responsible for:

  • Updating UniSC Research Bank and individual school databases/archives where appropriate and providing relevant documentation.
  • Ensuring their NTRO is accompanied by a well-written, properly executed research statement and evidence of ERA compliance.

In order for an NTRO to be ERA eligible, it is important to provide supporting documentation as per the following checklist:

  • A research statement of no more than 2000 characters (including spaces and headings) using the UniSC template.
  • Documentation of the creative work (this must provide a clear sense of the work in situ and be in digital form).
  • Evidence of the significance of the creative work. This may be through evidence of excellence (locations or venues of public presentation, collaboration with leading personnel, or other measures of excellence).
  • Evidence of peer review (print or electronic critical or scholarly essays, articles, reviews, recognition through short-listing, prizes, or judged by a panel of peers, commissioning through peer review process, competitively funded grant schemes).
  • Inclusion of appropriate FoR (Field of Research) code.
  • Indication of whether work is major or standard, where (as indicated in the ERA guidelines): 
    • Major = international or national scale, significant output over one to five years.
    • Standard = national or regional scale, sustained output of up to one year.

After the submission is uploaded to UniSC Research Bank, it will be reviewed by the NTRO Steering Committee to ensure all requirements have been met and that the output is eligible for ERA review. The researcher may be asked to make changes or provide further documentation or evidence.

If you have any questions or practical uploading questions, please contact the UniSC Library Research Bank team in the first instance.

If you have any questions about school areas of research focus, contact the chair of your school’s research committee or your deputy Head of School (Research).

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