Creative Outputs and Academic Research
Assessment guidance and criteria
I Preamble
(I.i) It is recognised that research and scholarly enquiry is published not only through
conventional academic genres (scholarly publications in peer-reviewed journals, in peerreviewed monographs etc.) but also through “research-led creative practices, as well as
artefacts and curatorial outputs”, as the REF2014 criteria recognise:
Outputs that embody research may include, but are not limited to (in no particular order):
• books (authored or edited)
• digital and broadcast media
• chapters in books
• performances and other types of live
• journal articles
presentation
• working papers
• artefacts
• published conference papers
• designs and exhibitions
• electronic resources and publications
• films, videos and other types of
• exhibition or museum catalogues
media presentation
• translations; scholarly editions
• software design and development
• creative writing and compositions
• advisory report
• curatorship and conservation
• the creation of archival or specialist
• databases
collections to support the research
• grammars
infrastructure.
• dictionaries
(Panel Criteria & Working Methods, 85)
(I.ii) Research-led creative outputs generally follow a different agenda from professional
creative practice outside a research institution. Research activities within the industry have
different aims and purposes; from a perspective of a research institution, these would often
fall into the category of scholarship.
(I.iii) “For the purposes of the REF, research is defined as a process of investigation leading
to new insights, effectively shared” (Panel Criteria, 48). The quality of research outputs is
assessed “in terms of their ‘originality, significance and rigour’, with reference to
international research quality standards” (Panel Criteria, 6). For more details on REF
definitions of originality, significance and rigour, as well as on the generic level definitions
(four star to unclassified calibration of research outputs) see Panel Criteria, “Section B:
Assessment criteria: outputs” (43-47).
II Range of Research-Led Creative Activities at FASS
Researchers in the Schools of FASS engage in a wide range of research-led creative activities,
from creative writing and authorship (including novels, poetry, plays, creative non-fiction,
performance scripts, film scripts, incl. music composition), performance activities (theatre,
performance, music, films, poetry events), public presentations of research (exhibition
curating, visual events), artefacts or digital publications (visual arts, translations, teaching
applications, research corpora), and innovative research in applied formats (textbooks with
innovative methodologies). These outputs originate in the School of English, School of
Language, Linguistics and Cultures, and the School of Drama, Music and Screen.
Note
PhD level research: with a view to the REF2014 criteria, PG research is unlikely to score high
in the research assessment. The Guidelines on Submission document (REF2014) stipulate that
“Theses, dissertations or other items submitted for a research degree including doctoral theses
may not be listed” in the submissions to the REF (Assessment Framework and Guidance on
Submissions, 22). With this in consideration, research that is conveyed as part of a PG
research project does not fulfil the standards of research assessed by the REF2014 and
commensurate exercises.
III Assessment Criteria Guidelines
These guidelines are formulated to assess academic research in creative outputs and are
derived from Section B2: Assessment criteria: outputs (Panel Criteria & Working Methods,
43-47). Unlike traditional publications, which present new findings and insights in an
articulated and literal way, creative outputs embody their epistemological findings in modes,
behavioural models or practices. The need to present academic research in this fashion is
often dictated by the nature of the insights that would not be shared effectively through other
media. Given the importance of innovation, originality as well as rigour, successful creative
outputs are in some way paradigm-shifting in that their novel epistemologies achieve progress
within their disciplines and/or beyond. It is recognised that this paradigm-shifting quality may
pose complications for the articulation of evidence for the purpose of assessment.
For the purposes of a REF assessment, the criteria (or indicators of esteem) for an
international significance are to be measure by the reach of the creative output: for instance, a
creative piece of work (a musical composition, a script or a curated artefact) that is realised by
an internationally renowned and/or internationally active institution (an orchestra, a theatre
company, a museum) at a venue that attracts international critics and audiences, and that has
been published by a leading publisher is deemed 3*. A creative output calibrated as 4* needs
to document how the research innovation has crucially contributed to the development of the
artistic/creative practice and has been a leading force within the discipline.
Guideline Questions
(1) Identification of the research: What is the research and innovation?
Like all academic research, research-led creative outputs are intent on innovation; are
original, and academically rigorous. What new insights and original findings does the
creative output convey? Once this research contribution is identified, it may be assessed in
by the same criteria applied to all academic research.
(2) Justification of means: Why does this research need to be embodied in a creative output?
It is recognised that the medium through which academic research is realised is inherent.
Addressing this guideline question is therefore inherently connected to the formulation of
the academic research. This is also an opportunity for articulating the benefits of realising
the academic research within the practice of an academic discipline (e.g. curating, creative
writing, performance). This justification of means should also reflect the extent and reach
of the output, in keeping with the REF criteria for world-leading, international, national
and regional “in terms of originality, significance and rigour” (46).
(3) Documentation: How can the research be articulated and appropriately documented?
For the purpose of assessment it is crucial to articulate the research in evidence adequately.
This necessity is complicated by the multiple types of creative outputs. Very often creative
outputs are of a temporary nature (performances, curations, events) rather than of a
material kind. It is recognised that AV documentation of temporal artefacts captures the
output insufficiently. For the purposes of the REF, individual creative outputs are
submitted in the form of portfolios that document the incremental process of research,
including supporting materials (including prepublished critical methodology; conference
presentations of individual incremental stages; earlier versions of the creative outputs), as
well as a variety of evidence of the actual output (publicity materials, media coverage,
reviews, evidence of reach, eg. user/audience numbers etc.). Such a portfolio, without the
word-count limitations that the REF instigates, should provide sufficient evidence for the
assessment of the research achievement.
Further Reading on Methodology and PaR Case Studies
Barrett, Estelle, and Barbara Bolt, eds. Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry. London: I.B.
Tauris, 2007.
Biggs, Michael, and Henrik Karlsson, eds. The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts. Abingdon:
Routledge, 2012.
Kershaw, Baz, and Helen Nicholson, eds. Research Methods in Theatre and Performance. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh UP, 2010.
Nelson, Robin, ed. Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances. London:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Smith, Hazel, and Roger T. Dean, eds. Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice in the Creative Arts.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2009.