Joint Academic Coding System

The Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) system is used by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in the United Kingdom to classify academic subjects.

A JACS code for a single subject consists of a letter and three numbers. The letter represents the broad subject classification and subsequent numbers represent further details, similar to the Dewey Decimal System. For example, F represents the Physical Sciences, F300 Physics, F330 Environmental Physics and F331 Atmospheric Physics.

History

HESA and UCAS used to operate two different (though similar) subject coding systems - HESAcode and Standard Classification of Academic Subjects (SCAS) respectively. In 1996 a joint project was launched to bring these two system together to create a unified structure. A project team was established with two people from each of the two organisations. The project team became known as JACS since this was an acronym of their names (Jonathan Waller and Andy Youell from HESA, Clive Sillence and Sara Goodwins from UCAS).

The first operational version (v1.7) of the Joint Academic Coding System (retaining the JACS acronym) was published in 1999 and became operational in UCAS and HESA systems for the year 2002/03.

An update exercise took place in 2005 and JACS version 2 was introduced for the academic year 2007/08. JACS3 was introduced for the 2012/13 year.

Codes

Letters are assigned to the subject groups as follows. Note that in JACS 3, Computer Science is split from Mathematics and assigned code letter I, while Engineering and Technology are merged although continuing to use letters H and J.

Letter	Subject area	Principal subjects
A	(1) Medicine and dentistry	A0 Broadly-based programmes within Medicine and dentistry A1 Pre-clinical medicine A2 Pre-clinical dentistry A3 Clinical medicine A4 Clinical dentistry A9 Others in medicine and dentistry
B	(2) Subjects allied to medicine	B0 Broadly-based programmes within subjects allied to medicine B1 Anatomy, physiology and pathology B2 Pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy B3 Complementary medicines, therapies and well-being B4 Nutrition B5 Ophthalmics B6 Aural and oral sciences B7 Nursing B8 Medical Technology B9 Others in subjects allied to medicine
C	(3) Biological sciences	C0 Broadly-based programmes within biological sciences C1 Biology C2 [Outline of botany|Botany]] C3 Zoology C4 Genetics C5 Microbiology C6 Sports and exercise science C7 Molecular biology, biophysics and biochemistry C8 Psychology C9 Others in biological sciences
D	(4) Veterinary science	D1 Pre-clinical veterinary medicine D2 Clinical veterinary medicine and dentistry
D	(5) Agriculture and related subjects	D0 Broadly-based programmes within agriculture and related subjects D3 Animal science D4 Agriculture D5 Forestry and arboriculture D6 Food and beverage studies D7 Agricultural sciences D9 Others in veterinary sciences, agriculture and related subjects
F	(6) Physical sciences	F0 Broadly-based programmes within physical sciences F1 Chemistry F2 Materials science F3 Physics F4 Forensic and Archaeological sciences F5 Astronomy F6 Geology F7 Science of aquatic and terrestrial environments F8 Physical geographical sciences F9 Others in physical sciences
G	(7) Mathematical sciences	G1 Mathematics G2 Operational research G3 Statistics G9 Others in mathematical sciences
I	(8) Computer science	I1 Computer science I2 Information systems I3 Software engineering I4 Artificial intelligence I5 Health informatics I6 Games I7 Computer generated visual and audio effects I9 Others in computer science
H & J	(9) Engineering and Technology	H0 Broadly-based programmes within engineering and technology H1 General engineering H2 Civil engineering H3 Mechanical engineering H4 Aerospace engineering H5 Naval architecture H6 Electronic and electronic engineering H7 Production and manufacturing engineering H8 Chemical, process and energy engineering J1 Minerals technology J2 Metallurgy J3 Ceramics and glass J4 Polymers and textiles J5 Materials technology not otherwise specified J6 Maritime technology J7 Biotechnology J9 Others in technology
K	(A) Architecture, building and planning	K100 Architecture, K200 Building, K400 Planning
L	(B) Social studies	L100 Economics, L200 Politics, L300 Sociology, L400 Social Policy, L500 Social Work, L600 Anthropology, L700 Human and Social Geography
M	(C) Law	M100 Law by geographical area, M200 Law by topic
N	(D) Business and administrative studies	N100 Business Studies, N200 Management, N300 Finance, N400 Accounting, N500 Marketing
P	(E) Mass communications and documentation	P300 Media Studies, P500 Journalism
Q, R .& T	(F) Languages	Q100 Linguistics, Q500 Celtic Studies, R100 French Studies, R200 German Studies, R300 Italian Studies, R400 Hispanic Studies, R600 Scandinavian Studies, R700 Russian Studies, T100 Chinese Studies, T500 African Studies
V	(G) Historical and philosophical studies	V100 History by period, V200 History by area, V350 History of Art, V400 Archaeology, V500 Philosophy, V600 Theology and Religious Studies
W	(H) Creative arts and design	W100 Fine Art, W200 Design, W300 Music, W400 Drama, W500 Dance, W600 Cinematics and Photography, W700 Crafts, W800 Creative Writing
X	(I) Education	X100 Training Teachers
Y	(J) Combined	Y0 Combined

Y codes (combined studies) are only used at the Course level in the HESA database and are not used to describe individual modules.

JACS Codes in the UCAS system

UCAS creates course codes based on the JACS codes of the course subject. In many cases the UCAS course code will be the same as the JACS subject code and this can lead to confusion between the two concepts.

Where a course involves more than one subject the UCAS course code is based on an aggregation of the JACS codes. For courses which are split 50:50 between two subjects, a code with two letters and two numbers is used, which combines the simplest (highest level) codes which would be used for the two subjects if studied as individual degrees.

Example

Consider the BSc course Mathematics and Physics:

• The simplest code for Mathematics is G100, and the simplest code for Physics is F300.
• The combined code uses G1 for Mathematics, and F3 for Physics.
• The combined code is GF13 because the letters always precede the numbers.

Another example is Music and Philosophy. The codes are W300 (Music) and V500 (Philosophy). The combined code is VW53 (also represents "Philosophy and Music"). Although it could theoretically be WV53, the letters are placed in alphabetical order by convention, and the numbers are placed in the same order following the subjects.

The same letter can be used twice (if the two subjects are within the same general subject area), such as GG41 for Computer Science and Mathematics.

Courses with major/minor subjects

Coding is done differently for courses such as "Mathematics with Physics", which is not the same as "Mathematics and Physics".

The format for such courses is Y1Z9 where:

• Y100 is the "major" subject which represents most of the degree course
• Z900 is the "minor subject which represents less of the course.

For example, Mathematics with Physics would be represented by G1F3, but Physics with Mathematics would be represented by F3G1. Hence the order in which the two subjects are notated is important.

See also

• List of fields of doctoral studies

External links

• JACS 1.7 Classification (2002/03–2006/07) from HESA
• JACS 2.0 Classification (2007/08–20011/12) from HESA
• JACS 3.0 Classification (since 20012/13) from HESA