Perspectives on UK

1

• Perspectives on UKs Research Strengths

December 2, 2010, London HEPI Conference Dr Nick
Fowler, Director of Strategy, Elsevier
2
Overview of Scientific, Technical and Medical
(STM) Information industry
Products
Customers
Other
Other
Academic and government institutions
Journals, print and E
Databases and online tools
Individuals
Medical
RD-intensive corporations
Books, print and E
Source Simba
3
Science publishers have a privileged vantage
point on science

• Each year
• 3 million articles submitted
• 300,000 peer reviewers
• 1.5 million articles published
• 30 million readers
• 2 billion digital article downloads
• 30 million article citations

4
Publication impact, societal impact Nobel prize
examples
5
UK, research articles published 2003-2009
Articles published

• UK researchers authored 114,000 articles in 2009
• The number of articles authored by UK researchers
  grew on average by 3.3 per year from 2003-2009,
  vs. 4.0 globally

Note Data shows UKs article outputs (research
articles, reviews and conference papers) per
year, 2003-09. Growth rates are CAGR calculated
over the period 2003-09.
Source Scopus
6
RD funding inputs vs. published article outputs
by country
Logarithmic scales
Articles published, 2008
Gross Expenditure on RD (Millions)
7
Share of global RD spending, 2006 and 2015
2015
2006
8
Share of published journal articles, 1996-2020
(projected)
Global share of total articles published
Year
9
UK, impact of research outputs 2003-2008
Size of bubble proportional to 5-year article
output
International collaboration rate
Citations per article

• UK articles are cited on average 5.8 times vs.
  4.6 for the world average
• In terms of Impact, UK punches above its weight
• UKs growing publication impact is associated
  with growing levels of international collaboration

8
Note Data shows UKs article outputs (research
articles, reviews and conference papers) and
shares using 5 year periods, e.g. 2008
corresponds to 2004-2008 publications .
8
Source Scopus
10
UK research outputs rates of collaboration rate
International collaboration rate

• Science is becoming more collaborative the
  percent of articles co-authored by researchers
  residing in separate countries increased from 26
  in 2003 to 33 in 2008
• The UKs rate of international collaboration is
  significantly higher 41 of articles were
  co-authored with non-UK researchers in 2008

Note Data shows proportion of article outputs
representing international collaboration (where
one or more other countries are listed in the
author address) in 5-year periods, e.g. 2008
corresponds to 2004-2008 publications and
2004-2008 citations.
9
9
Source Scopus
11
International collaboration rates correlates
strongly with publication impact
Field-weighted relative impact
1
2
3
4
5
Number of collaborating countries (where 1
domestic)

• International scientific collaboration is
  generally acknowledged as a positive force
  driving national impact and prestige
• Domestic articles (1) have no collaboration
  partners have around 3 times fewer citations per
  article than those with four collaborating
  countries (5)

10
10
Source Scopus
12
UK international collaboration
Note Collaboration relationships are shown for
the UK and its local collaboration environment.
Articles are counted in a 5-year window (i.e.
2004-08 citations to 2004-08 articles) and are
represented as variable-thickness lines (edges)
between countries (nodes). Line thickness
represents the share of collaboration to or from
the connected countries. Lines are only shown
where greater than 1,000 collaborative articles
in this period. Visualisation is by the Force
Atlas algorithm, which treats the network of
edges as a system of interconnected springs and
seeks to satisfy the tension of all edges
simultaneously in a 2D rendering hence,
countries sharing a collaborative relationship
tend to group together, while those that do not
are placed further apart.
11
Source Scopus
13
Scientists are more mobile
Destinations of researchers formerly affiliated
with UK institutions

• Top destinations for UK-based researchers
• US
• Germany
• France
• Australia
• Canada
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Spain
• Japan
• China

Source Scopus
14
Map of UK research strengths, 2009
15
UK distinctive competency example Application of
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology in
clinical neurophysiology

• Large, fast-growing area of research (20,000
  articles in 2009) UK has 24 share, cites more
  recent research than the US
• Leading UK institutions UCL, Oxford, Cambridge,
  Birmingham
• Most prolific author from University of
  Birmingham
• Most prolific and most cited institution UCL

16
UK distinctive competency example Acute
Psychiatric Nursing

• Of all areas of research strength, UK leads by
  the greatest margin in Acute Psychiatric Nursing
  3x US articles, 2x US citations
• Leadership driven by Kings College London, City
  University, U. of Central Lancaster, U. of
  Manchester and U of Nottingham

17
UK distinctive competency example Climate change
and sea levels

• UK slightly less prolific than US, but more
  highly cited. Leading institutions in the world
  include BAS, Oxford, Reading, Bristol and Durham
• Effective collaboration among UK researchers
  across disciplinary and institutional boundaries
  to create a national strength
• Example second most highly cited article
  physicists, computer scientists (Oxford), climate
  modellers (Met Office, Rutherford Appleton
  Laboratory), earth scientist (Open University),
  time-series analyst (LSE), meteorologist (U of
  Reading)

18
UK universities volume vs impact of outputs
Research Intensive
Research Selective

• No UK university appears in more than 160 (40)
  of UKs distinctive research competencies
• Both Russell Group and non-Russell Group are
  highly cited relative to the world average
• Effective collaboration by UK researchers across
  all types of institutions at the level of highly
  specific sub-fields drives UKs overall impact

17
Source Analysis based on Scopus data
19
UK research strengths vs. other global leaders
20
Implications of observations are challenging

• Observations
• RD spending drives RD outputs, and new global
  leaders are emerging
• Science is becoming more collaborative
• Scientists are more mobile geographically
• Science is becoming more interdisciplinary

• Challenges
• How to hold and grow share given global shift
• How to find and build links with the right
  partners
• How to identify, attract and retain the best
• How to allocate funds across subjects and
  departments

21
Collaboration area (1 of 4) quality content to
drive research efficiency

• Science information less than 1 of
  universities spending, but drives the efficiency
  and effectiveness of the remaining 99
• A 2x increase in article downloads is associated
  with a 3x increase in articles authored, a 2.7x
  increase in PhDs granted, and a 4x increase in
  grants won
• Effective research institutions drive societal
  and economic benefits

Source E-journals, their use, value and
impact, 2009 RIN/Ciber
22
Collaboration area (2 of 4) enhanced access to
scientific research data
Very high importance , very high satisfaction
High importance , low satisfaction

• Publishers are working to facilitate access to
  experimental data sets
• Link data sets to journal articles, e.g. Pangaea,
  CCDC
• Support and drive guidelines with key partners,
  e.g. Wellcome Trust, NSF, Bill and Melinda Gates
  Foundation

Source 3823 researcher respondents, PRC global
access vs. Importance study http//www.publishing
research.net/
23
Collaboration area (3 of 4) amplified evidence
to inform science policy

• Example, the UCL/Lancet commission 29
  researchers, 13 UCL departments examined the
  Health Effects of Climate Change.
• Report was the most requested in Scopus of 7,500
  UCL-authored articles and was in the top 1 of
  most downloaded articles from ScienceDirect.
• Findings discussed at a meeting of commonwealth
  health ministers, and mentioned at the World
  Health Assembly
• Other Lancet commissions the future of health
  and development with the LSHTM to coincide with
  the UN Summit held in New York with UCL on
  Healthy Cities with Harvard on the future of
  health professional education.

24
Collaboration area (4 of 4) tailored information
to manage research impact

• Project to develop metrics and tools to help
  institutions maximise the impact of their
  research investments
• Institutional and national decision-making needs
  data and analysis of collaboration networks,
  research strengths, and emerging hot spots of
  research

25
Summary
Quality of life
Quality research
Quality information