title: Analysis of Research and Education Indicators to Support Designation of Academic Health Science Centres in England.
abstract: In April 2013, the Department of Health (DH) announced an open competition to designate Academic Health Science Centres (AHSCs) in England. To support the current competition, the DH commissioned RAND Europe to compile and analyse various types of publicly available data and quality assessments in the domains of medical research and health education. This article presents the results of this analysis in the form of summary "tables of excellence," focusing on medical schools/academic partners likely to seek AHSC status. A detailed bibliometric analysis of health-related research publications has also been carried out and is presented. In addition, the article provides an overview of the publicly available data and outlines the significant caveats to using the data to produce education and research rankings for institutions. Given the various caveats and the requirements to balance two domains of activity (research and education), the ranking methodology presented in this article can be used in an "advisory" capacity to provide a general indication of the quality of the candidate AHSC institutions. The analysis is intended to assist potential applicants in deciding whether to submit a pre-qualifying questionnaire as part of the procurement process, and subsequently to inform the deliberations of the selection panel for the AHSCs.
authors.forename: Salil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gunashekar
authors.forename: Petal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hackett
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Castle-Clarke
authors.forename: Ros
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rouse
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grant