ABSTRACT
How to get 4* impact, in the UK context of Research Excellence Framework (REF), became an important question — but, outside the UK context, where perhaps different standards or no actual rating existed, it was an increasingly important factor. Aside from documents produced by the various bodies responsible for REF and many an internet or email comment and odd opinion pieces in the press, surprisingly little has been written about it and impact. More variegation was introduced with REF, with units being given a profile, rather than one simple score, and that profile was rendered as a percentage of the submission, in each of three sections, at a certain level. The three sections were outputs, impact and environment, with the first most heavily weighted. There was an ‘overall view’, with simply the ‘oomph’ of a case study being gauged, rather than fine tuning grades for either of the measures.
