Social Work Research in Australia: Continuing the Growth in the New Decade

This is a strategic time to think about how social work research can progress in the decade that lies before us. Strategic because more sources of information are at our disposal than ever before, upon which to develop a picture of current research activity and inform future development. The Australian Social Work (ASW) Impact Factor is at an historic highpoint, increasing from 0.867 in 2017 to 1.220 in 2018 (for an explanation of the Journal Impact Factor and its significance, see Bigby, 2009). There has also been a corresponding improvement in its ranking relative to the 43 journals listed in the social work category (as per the Web of Science Journal Citation Reports), rising from 26/43 in 2018 to 17/43 in 2019. The fact that 86.5% (147/170) of the articles published in the journal across the three years (2016–2018) were from Australia suggests a broad level of support for the journal from the national social work community. The vigour of Australian social work research output is also reflected in our strong performance in international journals ranked in the top 10 within the social work category. Australia was ranked second after England in countries contributing to the British Journal of Social Work, accounting for 10% of all contributions (51/500; 2016–2018). Even more remarkable, Australia was also ranked second after England in countries contributing to Health and Social Care in the Community, accounting for 23.9% of all contributions (94/393, 2016–2018). Findings produced from an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project “Advancing Social Work Research” have provided another source of information. The project, led by professors Claire Tilbury, Christine Bigby, and Mark Hughes, in partnership with UK-based Professor Mike Fisher, constitutes a once-in-a-generation exploration of the current state of social work research. As part of the project, the comparative performance of social work research was benchmarked against otherAustralian social science disciplines, finding that social work inAustralia was rating at midlevel in terms of research quantity but above average in terms of quality, although the quality did not hold up as strongly in comparison to the social work research performance in the UK (Tilbury, Hughes, Bigby, Fisher, & Vogel, 2017). Reviews of social work research publication output in the fields of disability, ageing, and child protection found similar characteristics, namely a lack of sustained social work research programs within these fields of practice (e.g., Bigby, Tilbury, & Hughes, 2018). The latest contribution from the project, published in this issue of ASW, is a review of social work performance in relation to ARC grants awarded for social work projects (Tilbury, Bigby, & Hughes, 2020), with success in obtaining such grants an important national indicator of social work research strength. The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) stocktakes provides another perspective. The ARC is responsible for administering the ERA, Australia’s national research evaluation framework. The ERA identifies and promotes excellence across the full spectrum of research activity in Australia’s higher education institutions. Among the 29 universities that have accredited social work programs, the 2018 ERA stocktake found that the research outcomes for social work at 12 of these universities were rated at either comparable to international standards or better. Not all of the remaining universities had social work rated however, and it should be recognised that universities sometimes make strategic decisions about whether or