Background and purpose

The main emphasis in the work done by academic staff involves research and teaching. Heads of school/centre directors supervise the research done by individual members of staff with a view to gaining a sound basis for determining whether they are living up to the expectations of their position in terms of research. This supervision process primarily concerns the work done that can be measured in research publications registered in PURE.

Timing and frequency of supervision

All schools and centres are then expected to carry out regular and recurring supervision of their research under the same conditions, with a view to determining whether the research efforts of individual researchers are satisfactory.

What are satisfactory research efforts?

The supervision process must consider the following expectations regarding research efforts:

• Normally at least two annual academic peer-reviewed publications or major works of a similar size, viewed over a three-year period (articles in peer-reviewed journals/anthologies, other academic work for publishers involving peer reviews, or major academic reports)

During the supervision process expectations must be viewed in relation to the way each researcher handles other tasks in connection with research, talent development, education and knowledge exchange.

The supervision process is based on publications that are registered in PURE as peer-reviewed contributions. The definition of ‘peer-reviewed’ used here is the definition provided by the Ministry of Education’s steering committee for the system of bibliometric indicators. See definition (in Danish).

Detailed procedure for research supervision at the Faculty of Arts

1. The dean/head of school/centre director informs all academic staff when the research supervision will be performed; the timetable and procedure for this based on PURE registrations must be observed. The supervision process normally starts in early March, so all updates and validations of publications and activities in PURE must have occurred before the end of February.
2. Based on registrations in PURE, the head of school/centre director will have two reports drawn up for each member of academic staff: 1) One for activities in the past three calendar years 2) One for research publications in the past three calendar years. These reports will be sent to the academic staff, who will be given the opportunity (by a specified deadline) of adding to/commenting on the information by referring to other tasks which might explain apparently unsatisfactory research efforts (working on major applications to councils or foundations, long-term research projects, publications in press or other activities which are not covered by PURE reports such as teaching, assessment work and administration). As far as possible, the information about teaching and administration efforts must be obtained by the head of school/centre director, and staff only need to provide information if extraordinary efforts have been made.
3. Based on the PURE reports and the supplementary information about each employee’s research efforts, the head of school/centre director determines (in relation to the overall working efforts) the need to obtain additional information with a view to assessing whether the efforts of the individual researcher have been satisfactory. The head of school/centre director may confer with the relevant middle manager. If any further information or documentation is needed, the employee concerned will be asked to discuss the issue with the head of school/centre director.
4. If the head of school/centre director deems (after considering the supervision process) that the efforts made by certain members of staff are not satisfactory or only satisfactory to a limited extent, he/she will draw up a written agreement with the staff member(s) concerned with a view to rectifying the research efforts made within a specified period.
5. The head of school/centre director will produce a report for the dean: 1) A brief account of the supervision process performed by the school/centre, including the number of employees who have made unsatisfactory research efforts. 2) A copy of any specific agreements made with members of staff.
6. Once the supervision process has been completed, all members of academic staff will be informed.
7. If any specific agreements are not observed, the standard service sanctions apply.