A new ERA of open access

Prior to the 2007 Australian Federal election, the Howard Government's new funding model for research in the higher education sector, the Research Quality Framework (RQF), was being implemented. The RQF was a 'work in progress' and a means of determining 'quality' and 'impact' in research undertaken by universities, with universities being funding according to a yet-to-be-determined model. When the Rudd Labor Government swept to power in November 2007 the ROF was dismantled and replaced by the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The ERA initiative is being developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC), in conjunction with the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, and aims to assess research quality using a combination of metrics and expert review committees. The focus on metrics makes the initiative extremely relevant to academic libraries. In this article we investigate and analyse the recognition, or otherwise, of open access journals in the ARC's recently released draft list of peer-reviewed journals which will form the basis for the metrics used in the ERA.