Introduction to the HRCS

The Health Research Classification System (HRCS) is a two dimensional framework. Codes from both HRCS dimensions are applied when classifying:

• One dimension, the Health Categories, is used to classify the type of health or disease being studied. There are 21 categories encompassing all diseases, conditions and areas of health.

• The other dimension, the Research Activity Codes, classifies the type of research activity being undertaken (from basic to applied). There are 48 codes divided into eight groups: 1 Underpinning, 2 Aetiology, 3 Prevention, 4 Detection and Diagnosis, 5 Treatment Development, 6 Treatment Evaluation, 7 Disease Management and 8 Health Services.

HRCS codes are assigned to capture the main objective(s) of a particular study - so the system provides a broad overview of the centre of gravity of a set of research awards.

Defined percentages are assigned to all HRCS codes - which means that the associated funding is analysed exactly with no double counting.

New users should start by reading the Approach to Coding page, then browse through the Health Categories, Research Activity Codes and other Guidance Topics using the menu items on the left.

More experienced users can find appropriate articles in all three areas by entering keywords into the Search HRCS page or by browsing the HRCS Overview page.