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

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

3. The growth of SA research outputs 1995-2016

4. 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

5. SA Publications and Important Events 1981-2009

6. SA Publications 1996-2016 Social Sciences 31 651
Arts and Humanities
Life Sciences and Biomedicine
Physical Sciences
Technology

7. SA Publications’ Share 1996-2016
Social Sciences %
Arts and Humanities %
Life Sciences and Biomedicine 45.4%
Physical Sciences %
Technology %
Total %

8. SA Publications’ Share in World 1996-2016
Social Sciences %
Arts and Humanities %
Life Sciences and Biomedicine %
Physical Sciences %
Technology %

9. SA Publications World Ranking 1996-2016
Social Sciences
Arts and Humanities
Life Sciences and Biomedicine 33
Physical Sciences
Technology

10. Social Sciences: Prolific Countries 2010-15
NO.
COUNTRY
RECORD
% OF 1
USA
31.676% 2
ENGLAND
10.592% 3
PEOPLES R CHINA
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%

11. ARTS and HUMANITIES Prolific Countries 2010-15
NO.
COUNTRY
RECORD
% of 1
USA
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%

12. Life Sciences and Biomedicine Prolific Countries 2010-15
NO.
COUNTRY
RECORD
% OF 1
USA
31.417% 2
PEOPLES R CHINA
7.885% 3
ENGLAND
7.250% 4
GERMANY
6.609% 5
JAPAN
5.092% 6
CANADA
4.594% 7
ITALY
4.517% 8
FRANCE
4.235% 9
AUSTRALIA
3.829% 10
SPAIN
3.502% 11
BRZIL
2.942% 12
NETHERLANDS
2.892% 13
SOUTH KOREA
2.606% 14
INDIA
2.599% 15
SWITZERLAND
1.889% 16
TURKEY
1.837% 17
SWEDEN
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%

13. Physical Sciences Prolific Countries 2010-15
NO.
COUNTRY
RECORD
% OF 1
USA
22.355% 2
POEPLES R CHINA
19.849% 3
GERMANY
8.093% 4
JAPAN
6.574% 5
FRANCE
5.595% 6
ENGLAND
5.034% 7
INDIA
4.893% 8
ITALY
4.282% 9
RUSSIA
4.278% 10
SPAIN
3.731% 11
SOUTH KOREA
3.701% 12
CANADA
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%

14. Technology Prolific Countries 2010-15
COUNTRY
RECORD
% of 1
PEOPLES R CHINA
23.136% 2
USA
19.456% 3
GERMANY
5.638% 4
JAPAN
5.151% 5
INDIA
4.608% 6
ENGLAND
4.388% 7
FRANCE
4.348% 8
SOUTH KOREA
3.835% 9
ITALY
3.468% 10
CANADA
3.370% 11
SPAIN
2.975% 12
TAIWAN
2.576% 13
AUSTRALIA
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%

15. 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%

16. 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%

17. 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%

18. 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%

19. 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%

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

21. 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

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

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

24. 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.

25. 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)

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. Any Questions ???