Guide to Selecting Your Top 10 Research Outputs
The Research Outputs pillar (Pillar A) carries the highest weighting in the REF Pakistan framework at 60%. This one-page guide is designed to help academic leads and researchers strategically select the best evidence of their unit’s scholarly excellence.
1. Core Principle: Quality Over Volume
REF Pakistan is an assessment of excellence, not total productivity.
- The Limit: Each unit must submit a maximum of 10 outputs for the full cycle (only 3–5 outputs for the pilot phase).
- The Goal: Move from quantity-driven models to high-impact, original contributions that elevate global standing.
2. Selection Criteria: The "Big Three"
When shortlisting potential outputs, evaluate them against these three dimensions used by reviewers :
Dimension | What to Look For |
Originality | Does the work define new paradigms, challenge existing theories, or set a new agenda for the discipline? |
Rigour | Is the methodology exemplary? Is the design transparent, robust, and (where applicable) reproducible? |
Significance | Does it make a field-defining contribution? Is it cited internationally or has it changed understanding of key phenomena? |
3. Diverse Forms of Research
Reviewers assess all forms of research on a fair and equal basis. You may submit:
- Published Work: Journal articles, monographs, and book chapters.
- Innovation and Technical: Patents and high-quality datasets.
- Creative and Applied: Creative works or exhibitions (if they meet scholarly standards).
4. Verification and Validation Standards
An output cannot be scored if it cannot be verified.
- Digital Links: Provide a DOI (preferred) or a stable URL to a digital repository for every item.
- Author Contribution: For multi-authored works, you must explicitly clarify the specific role and contribution of the submitting institution’s researcher.
- Repository Requirement: The output should have been deposited as the author’s accepted manuscript or the final ‘version of record’ where permitted.
5. Strategic Checklist for Academic Leads
- Is it Peer-Reviewed? Ensure all selected outputs have undergone rigorous quality assurance.
- Is it Verifiable? Confirm that every DOI or URL is active and links to the full text.
- Does it Show Variety? Select distinct examples of excellence rather than many similar works from a single project.
- Is it Impactful? Prioritise work published in world-leading venues or those with high global/national recognition.
Warning: Do not submit provisionally accepted manuscripts that require further revision; only final, accepted texts are eligible