Managing Research: Quo Vadis Professor Anastassios Pouris Institute for Technological Innovation University of Pretoria October 2017

Objectives Outline SA Research Performance Discuss the many faces of research indicators Elaborate on missing instruments Offer suggestions Discussion

The growth of SA research outputs 1995-2016

Forces Affecting the Number of Publications NRF rating researchers in social sciences Journals added in Thomson Reuters databases New Funding Framework for Higher Education Institutions Scientometrics (2012) 91:317–325

SA Publications and Important Events 1981-2009

SA Publications 1996-2016 Social Sciences 31 651 Arts and Humanities 8 842 Life Sciences and Biomedicine 103 441 Physical Sciences 46 119 Technology 37 847

SA Publications’ Share 1996-2016 Social Sciences 13.9% Arts and Humanities 3.9% Life Sciences and Biomedicine 45.4% Physical Sciences 20.2% Technology 16.6% Total 100.0%

SA Publications’ Share in World 1996-2016 Social Sciences 0.80% Arts and Humanities 0.33% Life Sciences and Biomedicine 0.63% Physical Sciences 0.50% Technology 0.37%

SA Publications World Ranking 1996-2016 Social Sciences 18 Arts and Humanities 18 Life Sciences and Biomedicine 33 Physical Sciences 38 Technology 40

Social Sciences: Prolific Countries 2010-15 NO. COUNTRY RECORD % OF 1607118 1 USA 509 069 31.676% 2 ENGLAND 170 222 10.592% 3 PEOPLES R CHINA 102 420 6.373% 4 AUSTRALIA 78 683 4.896% 5 CANADA 78 125 4.861% 6 GERMANY 76 666 4.770% 7 SPAIN 50 742 3.157% 8 NETHERLANDS 49 372 3.072% 9 FRANCE 39 650 2.467% 10 ITALY 38 840 2.417% 11 SWEDEN 22 618 1.407% 12 SWITZERLAND 21 596 1.344% 13 BELGIUM 21 437 1.334% 14 ROMANIA 20 456 1.273% 15 JAPAN 20 037 1.247% 16 TURKEY 19 991 1.244% 17 SCOTLAND 19 954 1.242% 18 TAIWAN 17 113 1.065% 19 SOUTH AFRICA 16 443 1.023%

ARTS and HUMANITIES Prolific Countries 2010-15 NO. COUNTRY RECORD % of 884222 1 USA 212 625 24.047% 2 ENGLAND 81 174 9.180% 3 CANADA 26 739 3.024% 4 GERMANY 21 933 2.480% 5 AUSTRALIA 18 049 2.041% 6 FRANCE 17 287 1.955% 7 SPAIN 16 325 1.846% 8 ITALY 13 990 1.582% 9 SCOTLAND 10 830 1.225% 10 NETHERLANDS 9 422 1.066% 11 PEOPLES R CHINA 8 507 0.962% 12 BELGIUM 6 329 0.716% 13 ISRAEL 4 861 0.550% 14 BRAZIL 4 674 0.529% 15 SWITZERLAND 4 408 0.499% 16 RUSSIA 4 272 0.483% 17 SWEDEN 4 210 0.476% 18 IRELAND 4 067 0.460% 19 SOUTH AFRICA 3 846 0.435%

Life Sciences and Biomedicine Prolific Countries 2010-15 NO. COUNTRY RECORD % OF 687 1042 1 USA 215 8697 31.417% 2 PEOPLES R CHINA 541 800 7.885% 3 ENGLAND 498 159 7.250% 4 GERMANY 454 088 6.609% 5 JAPAN 349 851 5.092% 6 CANADA 315 630 4.594% 7 ITALY 310 369 4.517% 8 FRANCE 290 964 4.235% 9 AUSTRALIA 263 090 3.829% 10 SPAIN 240 637 3.502% 11 BRZIL 202 172 2.942% 12 NETHERLANDS 198 741 2.892% 13 SOUTH KOREA 179 072 2.606% 14 INDIA 178 591 2.599% 15 SWITZERLAND 129 821 1.889% 16 TURKEY 126 225 1.837% 17 SWEDEN 114 658 1.669% 18 BELGIUM 99 415 1.447% 19 POLAND 87 254 1.270% 20 TAIWAN 82 876 1.206% 21 DENMARK 82 238 1.197% 22 SCOTLAND 72 707 1.058% 23 AUSTRIA 71 334 1.038% 24 IRAN 71 252 1.037% 25 RUSSIA 57 767 0.841% 26 ISRAEL 57 150 0.832% 27 PORTUGAL 56 667 0.825% 28 GREECE 56 080 0.816% 29 NORWAY 54 516 0.793% 30 MEXICO 49 391 0.719% 31 FINLAND 48 677 0.708% 32 IRELAND 45 707 0.665% 33 CZECH REPUBLIC 44 551 0.648% 34 SOUTH AFRICA 43 831 0.638%

Physical Sciences Prolific Countries 2010-15 NO. COUNTRY RECORD % OF 3 262 667 1 USA 729 379 22.355% 2 POEPLES R CHINA 647 603 19.849% 3 GERMANY 264 041 8.093% 4 JAPAN 214 496 6.574% 5 FRANCE 194 431 5.595% 6 ENGLAND 164 253 5.034% 7 INDIA 159 653 4.893% 8 ITALY 139 709 4.282% 9 RUSSIA 139 584 4.278% 10 SPAIN 121 746 3.731% 11 SOUTH KOREA 120 735 3.701% 12 CANADA 108 206 3.316% 13 AUSTRALIA 81 611 2.501% 14 POLAND 66 684 2.044% 15 TAIWAN 65 931 2.021% 16 IRAN 63 443 1.945% 17 SWITZERLAND 61 169 1.875% 18 BRAZIL 60 249 1.847% 19 NETHERLANDS 55 694 1.707% 20 TURKEY 42 797 1.312% 21 SWEDEN 42 069 1.289% 22 BELGIUM 39 738 1.218% 23 CZECH REPUBLIC 35 466 1.087% 24 AUSTRIA 30 859 0.946% 25 PORTUGAL 30 476 0.934% 26 SINGAPORE 29 151 0.893% 27 MEXICO 28 803 0.883% 28 ISRAEL 28 273 0.867% 29 SCOTLAND 27 385 0.839% 30 ROMANIA 26 504 0.812% 31 DENMARK 25 215 0.773% 32 MALAYSIA 25 014 0.767% 33 SAUDI ARABIA 24 702 0.757% 34 UKRAINE 23 698 0.726% 35 GREECE 22 901 0.702% 36 FINLAND 22 772 0.698% 37 SOUTH AFRICA 20 202 0.619%

Technology Prolific Countries 2010-15 COUNTRY RECORD % of 399 5120 1 PEOPLES R CHINA 924 293 23.136% 2 USA 777 310 19.456% 3 GERMANY 225 248 5.638% 4 JAPAN 205 800 5.151% 5 INDIA 184 102 4.608% 6 ENGLAND 175 320 4.388% 7 FRANCE 173 713 4.348% 8 SOUTH KOREA 153 197 3.835% 9 ITALY 138 556 3.468% 10 CANADA 134 627 3.370% 11 SPAIN 118 851 2.975% 12 TAIWAN 102 911 2.576% 13 AUSTRALIA 101 592 2.543% 14 IRAN 77 546 1.941% 15 RUSSIA 67 043 1.678% 16 BRAZIL 65 052 1.628% 17 NETHERLANDS 64 236 1.608% 18 POLAND 59 950 1.501% 19 SWITZERLAND 52 160 1.306% 20 TURKEY 51 739 1.295% 21 SWEDEN 49 716 1.244% 22 MALAYSIA 48 648 1.218% 23 SINGAPORE 45 496 1.139% 24 BELGIUM 40 651 1.018% 25 PORTUGAL 37 683 0.943% 26 CZECH REPUBLIC 35 437 0.887% 27 AUSTRIA 32 272 0.808% 28 ROMANIA 31 522 0.789% 29 GREECE 29 637 0.742% 30 FINLAND 28 383 0.710% 31 DENMARK 27 108 0.684% 32 MEXICO 24 982 0.625% 33 ISRAEL 24 697 0.618% 34 SAUDI ARABIA 24 203 0.606% 35 SCOTLAND 24 164 0.605% 36 NORWAY 23 245 0.582% 37 EGYPT 19 767 0.495% 38 THAILAND 19 758 39 SOUTH AFRICA 17 244 0.432%

Contributors to Social Sciences SA 2010-15 Organisation Number of Publications Percentage Univ of Cape Town 2476 15.05% Univ of the Witwatersrand 2423 14.7% Univ of Pretoria 1591 9.6% Stellenbosch Univ 1507 9.1% Univ of Johannesburg 1412 8.5% Univ of Kwazulu-Natal 1345 8.1% North-West Univ 1213 7.3%

Contributors to Arts & Humanities SA 2010-15 Organisation Number of Publications Percentage Univ of Pretoria 641 16.6% Univ of Cape Town 529 13.7% Stellenbosch Univ 435 11.3% Univ of the Witwatersrand 400 10.4% UNISA 339 8.8% Univ of Free State 290 7.5%

Contributors to Life Sciences and Biomedicine SA 2010-15 Organisation Number of Publications Percentage Univ of Cape Town 9 450 21.5% Stellenbosch Univ 6 481 14.7% Univ of the Witwatersrand 5 950 13.5% Univ of Kwazulu-Natal 5 732 13.1% Univ of Pretoria 5 588 12.7%

Contributors to Physical Sciences SA 2010-15 Organisation Number of Publications Percentage Univ of the Witwatersrand 3 023 14.9% Univ of Cape Town 3 021 Univ Kwazulu-Natal 2 923 14.4% Univ of Johannesburg 2 079 10.2% Stellenbosch Univ 1 867 9.2% Univ of Pretoria 1 509 7.4%

Contributors to Technology SA 2010-15 Organisation Number of Publications Percentage Univ of Pretoria 2 511 14.5% Univ of Cape Town 2 380 13.8% Univ of the Witwatersrand 2 010 11.6% Stellenbosch Univ 1 793 10.4% Univ of Kwazulu-Natal 1 732 10.0% CSIR 1 388 8.0% Univ of Johannesburg 1 269 7.3%

International Trends: Funding Instruments Different policy objectives require different instruments horses for courses

International Trends: Funding Instruments EC study identified that on average each country has 50 R&D&I instruments Popularity: Innovation support Fiscal incentives Cluster initiatives

Funding Instruments SA THRIP ? SPII ? SA Research Chairs Incentive Funding for Rated Researchers ? Centres of Excellence Sector Specific Innovation Funds

Small Size (ineffective?) SA Instruments Few Instruments < 50 Small Size (ineffective?) Why?

S&T Acceptance The structure of the governance of S&T&I reflects the recognition of the importance of science, technology and innovation. Internationally (e.g. China and Korea) science and technology have been adopted by their political leadership as primary productive forces and sources of economic development.

Deng Xiaoping (Leader 1978-89) “Marx was quite right to say that science and technology are part of the productive forces, but now it seems his statement was incomplete. The complete statement should be that science and technology constitute a primary productive force. The future of agriculture will eventually lie in bioengineering and other highly advanced technologies. So we must recognize the full importance of science and technology. We should put more money and effort into developing them and into developing agriculture and education. We should try every way to expand education, even if it means slowing down in other fields” (Deng Xiaoping, China 2011)

What are we Missing? Suggestions (1) Universities have the responsibility and mandate to facilitate the development of informed public policy related to Universities. Universities and funding agencies should institutionalise advocacy activities.

What are we Missing? Suggestions (2) R&D&I funding should increase substantially. Universities together with the funding agencies supporting university research (i.e. NRF, WRC, MRC and SANEDI) should consider discussing the issue for novel solutions with DST and Treasury.

What are we Missing? Suggestions (3) Foresight activities are useful for planning science and technology funding; strategic decisions; defining the strategy of an industry or sector; improving long term competitiveness; coping with changes in the socio-economic framework; attracting the attention of political authorities etc. Universities and NRF should consider the undertaking of foresight exercises for the University sector.

Any Questions ???