Research impact and engagement

Why it's important

Knowing how to assess the impact or influence of your research is vital when you apply for research grant funding, or seek academic promotion.

The Australian Research Council assesses how well researchers are engaging with the community. They then report on how universities are translating their research into economic, social, environmental, cultural and other impacts.

What it means

Traditionally, research impact is measured by citation counts and other metrics. Metrics are statistics that show the readership and usage of your publications and help to identify your most popular works. They can demonstrate your research influence and performance for grants and promotions.

Assessing your research impact

This Research Metrics and Impact guide describes the different ways you can assess the impact of your research and increase your research readership, citation count and influence.

Learn how to assess research impact

Request a Research Metrics Report

Recording your impact and engagement

Recording your impact allows you to identify how end-users engage with your research.

To maintain evidence of your engagement and impact, make sure that you keep good records that show how your research contributes to at least one of the following:

  • The economy.
  • Society.
  • Environment.
  • Culture.

Your research partnerships and collaboration can also enhance your research impact.

Recording it in CRO

This guide has instructions for recording your research impact and engagement with a variety of forms in Charles Sturt Research Outputs (CRO). You can record your:

  • activities
  • prizes
  • awards
  • social impacts.

Learn how to add your activities

Workshops

The library also offers in-depth training sessions on research and impact. You can either watch a recorded session or enrol in one of our workshops.

Register for workshops

You can find a list of all the professional development (PD) events and sessions in this calendar.

Watch the recorded workshops about research impact and engagement

You can enrol in one of our workshops or watch recorded sessions about research impact and engagement.

Metrics and your research impact

Publishing your research