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For contributors in AustraliaDEST Publications Return for 2004The following information may be helpful to contributors in Australia in completing annual submissions of Research Publications to DEST (Department of Education, Science and Training).
Contributors will of course make their own judgements about what goes into their submissions.
However, the following facts may be relevant to questions arising from section 11 of the DEST document
'2005 Higher Education Research Data Collection: Specifications for the Collection of 2004 Data'.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in association with the British Academy
(to give it its full published title) is established as a research project of the University of Oxford, funded by the British Academy and Oxford University Press.
Its material consists of scholarly research articles commissioned and edited by the Editor (a senior academic) and research staff of the University of Oxford, in
close consultation with a worldwide network of more than 400 expert scholarly referees and advisers.
Part of the cost of the project's work was supported by UK public research funding, provided by the British Academy to the University of Oxford, and totalling
£3.7 million over 13 financial years; the remainder was met by the Delegates of Oxford University Press, who committed £19 million to the creation of the Oxford DNB because of its
international scholarly importance, and in no expectation of a commercial return.
The quality of scholarly research in Oxford DNB articles was and continues to be rigorously controlled through academic advice and peer review. Under the direction of the Editor—successively, Professor H. C. G. Matthew and Professor Brian Harrison for the 2004 edition, and now Dr
Lawrence Goldman, all of the University of Oxford—each article was commissioned, reviewed, and edited by an in-house Research Editor (generally a post-doctoral research scholar)
under the detailed guidance of a senior Consultant Editor and of a specialist Associate Editor. Associate Editors made detailed recommendations on the inclusion and commissioning of each
article (including selection of contributor, length, and academic requirements); those recommendations were reviewed by the relevant Research Editor and Consultant Editor, and further by the
Consultant Editor for Women, and by the Research Director and the Editor of the dictionary, before commissions were issued by the Editor. On delivery of material by contributors,
each article (except those already assessed by advisers as needing only light revision) was reviewed by the relevant Associate Editor—and those over 1250 words also by the
Consultant Editor—who assessed its scholarly quality in relation to current work in its field. After revision by the contributor, if necessary, each article was edited by the relevant Research
Editor so that it would conform to the particular academic standards of the Oxford DNB, before receiving final scrutiny (sometimes after further consultation with advisers) by the Editor.
A full account of the Oxford DNB's editorial processes and its Consultant and Associate Editors may be found in the Introduction and accompanying lists in volume 1 of the printed edition
(September 2004). Electronic versions of the Introduction and lists of Consultant and Associate editors are freely available online.
Copies of contributors' articles in the Oxford DNB may be printed from the online edition now available in many Australian libraries.
(To get a properly formatted 'printer-friendly' version please click on 'Print' at the top left of the screen, immediately under the Oxford DNB logo.)
The Oxford DNB's online version is a regular serial publication (updates are published three times a year), and has an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN):
If as a contributor you have any further questions, please email us.
Thank you once again for having contributed so much to the success of the Oxford DNB.
Lawrence Goldman
Editor, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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