Crossing the hurdle: the determinants of individual scientific performance

A percentile rank score of group productivity: an evaluation of publication productivity for researchers from various fields

The difficulty in evaluating the research performance of groups is attributable to the following two factors: 1) difference of population size or discipline of group members and 2) skewed distribution of the research performance of individuals. This study attempts to overcome this difficulty, focusing on the research performance based on publication productivity. We employ the normalized index for the number of papers, in which publication efficiency was considered and disciplinary variation in the publication intensity was corrected by the disciplinary averages, to calculate a new percentile rank score. The score was developed on the basis of the principle that a person who is rare is valuable. The score was also tested with publication data for faculty members of 17 Japanese universities. The employment of the normalized index increased the score of universities with relatively few faculty members working in the disciplines of high productivity, resulting in more plausible university rankings. The rankings show a high correlation with those for a previously established percentile rank score, which was developed for citation analysis, and they are consistent with the judgment by evaluators of several universities under study. The advantage of the new score over the previous one is that it has no room for arbitrariness in determining the scheme of rank classification and the weights given to each rank class.

Factors of Collaboration Affecting the Performance of Alternative Energy Patents in South Korea from 2010 to 2017

In recent years, innovation of alternative energy technologies to manage climate change has become an important goal worldwide. South Korea has been focusing on the innovation of alternative energy technologies through its investments and innovation systematic capabilities. This study quantitatively examines the effect of national innovation systems that are designed to improve the performance of innovation. To do so, this study analyzes the effects of financial support from the national research and development (R&D) project, and collaborations between institutions regarding the national innovation systems on patent performance based on citation count, which is a useful indicator of patent quality. Specifically, this study analyzes the effects of financial support from the national R&D project, as well as collaborations between universities, industries, and the government regarding patent performance using the patent data of South Korea. These data were used in congruence with a hurdle negative binomial model, using data from 2010 to 2017. Consequently, this study establishes that financial supports from national R&D project are generally inefficient. The relational aspects of the South Korean innovation systems are also generally inefficient, while collaborations between universities and industries contribute toward improving the performance of alternative energy patents.

Profiles not metrics: the case of Brazilian universities

Public universities, and science in general, in Brazil, are under attack from key persons of the government in interviews and articles published in non-scientific journals. Here we look at bibliography data from international science metric platforms (Scival® and Incites®) and official Brazilian agencies such as CAPES and CNPq to reach some conclusions based on scientific analysis. Brazilian Science has shown a steady improvement in quantity and quality over the last 20 years but has recently suffered (since 2015) under severe financial restrictions. An increase in international collaboration also increased citation impact, reaching almost five times the world average. While the medical and natural sciences show the highest impact and prominence, social sciences and the humanities also have spotlight areas with international excellence. Different research institutions and universities offer a variety of production profiles and impacts. This diagnosis shows the need for universities and research institutes in Brazil and funding agencies to undergo strategic planning for definition of mission/vision, goals to be reached, and areas for priority development. Continued support of public universities by the government is necessary for Brazilian autonomy in science and technology and its full integration in the world scientific community.

On the evolution of the glass ceiling in Italian academia: the case of economics

Following an international trend, Italy has reformed its university system, especially concerning methods and tools for research evaluation, which are increasingly focused on a number of bibliometric indexes. To study the effects of these changes, we analyze the changing profiles of economists who have won competitions for full professorship in the last few decades in the country. We concentrate on individual characteristics and on scientific production. We show that the identification of a univocal and standardized concept of "research quality" within the new research assessments has progressively imposed a strategy of "homologation," especially for women. We find that women economists are at a higher risk of discrimination than their male colleagues and thus they are more likely to conform their research activities to the standardized profile imposed by the gender-blind application of simplistic bibliometric methods.

GWRM: An R Package for Identifying Sources of Variation in Overdispersed Count Data

Understanding why a random variable is actually random has been in the core of Statistics from its beginnings. The generalized Waring regression model for count data explains that inherent variability is given by three possible sources: randomness, liability and proneness. The model extends the negative binomial regression model and it is not included in the family of generalized linear models. In order to avoid that shortcoming, we developed the GWRM R package for fitting, describing and validating the model. The version we introduce in this communication provides a new design of the modelling function as well as new methods operating on the associated fitted model objects, so that the new software integrates easily into the computational toolbox for modelling count data in R. The release of a plug-in in order to use the package from the interface R Commander tries to contribute to the spreading of the model among non-advanced users. We illustrate the usage and the possibilities of the software with two examples from the fields of health and sport.

Scientific Performance of Brazilian Researchers in Pharmacology with grants from CNPq: A comparative study within the Brazilian categories

ABSTRACT In Brazil, scientific performance of researchers is one important criteria for decision-making in grant allocation. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the profile of 82 seniors' investigators (graded as level 1A-D) which were receiving CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) productivity grant in Pharmacology, by analyzing the pattern of citation of their papers and h-index. Total documents, citations (with and without self-citations) and h-index (with and without self-citations) were retrieved from the Scopus database. The results indicated a clear difference among researchers from the higher categories (1A and 1B) in most of the parameters analyzed. However, no noticeable differentiation was found between researchers from grant category 1C and 1D. The results presented here may inform the scientific community and the grant agencies on the profile of PQ 1(A-D) fellows of Pharmacology, and may help to define new differences within CNPq grant categories, and consequently, a better allocation of grants.