PROFESSORIAL BANDING

DISCIPLINARY NORMS AND EXPECTATIONS

Department/School:Mathematics

Discipline (only if different to the above):

Faculty: Science

I confirm that the discipline norms detailed below were completed following consultation with Professors in the department, and have been verified by an external advisor.

Completed by: James McKeeDate: 27/04/2016

RESEARCH

  1. What are the top-rated forms of research work in your discipline? E.g. journal articles, monographs, editions

Articles in refereed journals. In Pure Mathematics, research monographs are also highly rated. In Cryptology and other areas close to Computer Science some high-ranking conference proceedings have the equivalent reputation of a top journal.

  1. What lesser publications such as encyclopaedia entries, programme notes, reviews etc. command respect in your discipline?

Survey articles; reviewing for Mathematical Reviews or Zentralblatt.

  1. What are the top-rated outlets for dissemination of research in your discipline? E.g. major publishers, top journals?

This is difficult, as most outlets contain a range of outputs, not uniformly strong. The venue is not in itself an assurance of quality, or of lack of quality. The correct place to publish certain high quality work might not be in one of the very top general mathematics journals but in a specialist journal. Most major publishers publish a range of journals, not all of high quality. It is hard to rate the quality of a mathematics paper without getting the assessment of an expert in the field. With all these caveats in mind, the following list should be treated with considerable caution.

Major publishers of top-rated journals:

  • American Mathematical Society
  • American Physical Society
  • Birkhauser
  • Cambridge University Press
  • De Gruyter
  • Elsevier
  • IEEE
  • Institute of Mathematical Statistics
  • Institute of Physics
  • Oxford University Press
  • SIAM
  • Springer

Other top journals:

  • Annals of Mathematics

Highly-regarded conference proceedings: IACR organised conferences and workshops; see for a list.

  1. What are the guiding assumptions about sole authorship, PI status, percentage contribution, joint editorship, etc.?

Single-authored papers are the exception now, especially in Quantum Dynamics and the applied end of Statistics where almost all research is done collaboratively. There is no universal rule of author ordering in joint outputs; often authors are listed in alphabetical order. The general assumption is that all authors made significant contributions to the output.

  1. What is the volume of productivity over what sort of timeline that might signify a.) a reasonable performance; b) a positive step-change for a professor in your discipline?

a)In applied mathematics, applied statistics, and discrete mathematics, about 2 papers per year. In pure mathematics and theoretical statistics, 1 or 2 papers per year. For those publishing in physics journals, the Physics norms should be applied.

b)About 4 papers per year. But quality is so much more important than quantity, and a single ground-breaking paper is considerably more positive than a handful of middling ones.

  1. What are the top-rated funding sources for Research in your discipline? E.g. ESRC, AHRC, Leverhulme Trust, Wellcome etc.

EPSRC, EU, Royal Society

  1. What levels of funding would you regard as indicating a) a reasonable performance; or b) high performance in your discipline?

Grant income is not required for top-level research in any of the sub-disciplines within the department. But the reward of research grants is certainly an indication of esteem and research success. Large grants are rare, and skew the averages for the department and the sector.

a)£0 could be reasonable for some individuals. The occasional £10,000+ grant would generally be reasonable.

b)The occasional £100,000+ grant. Grants for funding post-docs.

  1. Are invited lectures/ conference plenaries/ conference organization/ visiting professorships/ particularly significant in your discipline, and in what sort of ranked order?

In approximate ranked order: keynote addresses, fellowships, editorial board membership, visiting professorships, organising major conferences, invited conference talks.

  1. What awards, prizes and honours if any, are significant in your discipline?

Extremely rare and marks of great distinction: Fellow of the Royal Society, prizes awarded by learned societies

  1. Membership of which learned societies or other discipline-specific groups or organizations carry weight in your discipline?

Nearly all mathematicians are members of one or more learned societies. Some societies have higher grades above standard membership that add distinction.

TEACHING

  1. How many PhD students (in FTEs) would you expect to be supervised by Professors in your discipline?

There is no expectation, but an average Professor takes on about 0.5 new PhD students each year. PhD supervision depends on availability of funds, which may limit the ambitions to supervise more (or any) students.

  1. What are the norms for contribution by Professors to Masters courses and their validation in your discipline?

Professors may or may not be involved in the teaching of our MSc programmes, depending on how the courses are assigned. A reasonable performance could be measured by approximately average teaching-related scores in evaluations (compared to the same cohort taking other courses); work on College validation panels. A high performance could include: National Teaching Fellowship; College Teaching Fellowship; innovations in teaching with analysis of their effectiveness; design of new MSc programmes; design of new MSc courses; teaching prizes; nomination for prizes; consistently high evaluations; work on external validation panels.

  1. What are the norms for Professors devising and teaching undergraduate courses in your discipline?

A reasonable performance could be measured by: approximately average teaching-related scores in evaluations (compared to the same cohort taking other courses); work on College validation panels. A high performance could include: National Teaching Fellowship; College Teaching Fellowship; innovations in teaching with analysis of their effectiveness; design of new undergraduate programmes; design of new undergraduate courses; teaching prizes; nominations for prizes; consistently high evaluations; work on external validation panels.

EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT AND IMPACT

  1. What are the norms for external involvement in your discipline within University of London, UK universities, international HE activity etc. that indicate a) a reasonable performance; b) a high performance?

a)Some involvement with other UK universities: external examining of UG/PGT courses; external examining of PhD theses; consultations over course development; etc.

b)Membership of national committees involved with HE activity. Many examples of activities listed under a).

  1. What particular forms of external academic, and where relevant non-academic,impact would indicate an acceptable and high performance in your discipline?

External academic impact is sometimes (but not always) reflected in large numbers of citations, or any number of citations that point specifically to the academic impact of the work. The extent of this is highly dependent on the sub-discipline, and varies so much that it is virtually meaningless. Quality is more highly regarded than quantity, and citation numbers do not always reflect quality. In Pure Mathematics citation rates tend to be lower, and there is often a greater lag due to slow refereeing and publication processes. There is widespread scepticism about the value of citation indices in assessing quality, and it can be many years before the impact of a ground-breaking paper is felt in citation indices.

External academic impact is also reflected in invitations to give research seminars at other institutions. High performance would here be indicated by giving keynote addresses, or frequent invited talks.Non-academic forms of impact include consultancy work, secondments, and activities likely to lead to impact outside academia or the institution, in the sense of HEFCE.

  1. What kind and volume of Third Stream activity (including patents, spin-outs, outreach, knowledge transfer, consultancies, cultural interventionsetc.) of benefit to the College etc. would be important in your discipline?

Consultancy work; secondments; media appearances; outreach activities. Rarely patents.Activities likely to lead to impact outside academia or the institution, in the sense of HEFCE.

LEADERSHIP AND ENHANCEMENT

  1. What forms of leadership, internal and external, command respect in your discipline?

Major administrative roles within the University or Department.

External appointment panels.

Active membership of national or international bodies.

  1. What forms of enhancement, such as support of improved performance by colleagues, command respect in your discipline?

Mentoring