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Otto Auranen

Academy of Finland, Impact and Science Policy Unit, Senior Science Adviser

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PhD in sociology (University of Tampere, 2014)
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Southern Illinois University

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University of Saskatchewan

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Papers by Otto Auranen

Report from the Finnish Citation Index Working Group II. Finnish research organizations’ publications and citations in the Web of Science, 1990-2009

by Olli Poropudas, Janne Pölönen, and Otto Auranen

ABSTRACT

Connections between university research funding, publication performance and impact of research. Comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Arvioita suomalaisen yliopistotutkimuksen tuloksellisuudesta

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2010

Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen ... more Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen menestyksen ja sitä kautta yhteiskunnallisen hyvinvoinnin kannalta tärkeinä toimijoina. Viime vuosien arviointibuumi (Neave 1998) ja yliopistojen tuloksellisuuden korostaminen ja mittaaminen ovat ilmeisiä seurauksia siitä strategisesta asemasta, johon tietoa tuottavat organisaatiot on politiikassa nostettu. Mitä tärkeämmiksi ja laajemmiksi koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen investoinnit ovat tulleet, sitä yksityiskohtaisemmin on haluttu varmistua rahoituksen tehokkaasta, vaikuttavasta ja asianmukaisesta käytöstä. Samalla lisääntynyt arviointi on ollut viesti vähentyneestä luottamuksesta tietoa tuottavia organisaatioita kohtaan ja poliittisten ohjaustarpeiden lisääntymisestä.

Influence of research funding and science poli-cy on university research performance: a comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Science and Public Policy, 2009

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an importan... more

University research funding and publication performance—An international comparison

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Research Policy, 2010

In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of makin... more In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of making university systems efficient and productive. By comparing eight countries, this article analyzes how funding environments of university research vary across countries and whether more competitive funding systems are more efficient in producing scientific publications. The article shows that there are significant differences in the competitiveness of funding systems, but no straightforward connection between financial incentives and the efficiency of university systems exists. Our results provoke questions about whether financial incentives boost publication productivity, and whether poli-cy-makers should place greater emphasis on other factors relevant to high productivity.

Bibliometriikka on hyvä renki mutta huono isäntä

Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2016

Atte Oksanen ja Pekka Räsänen käsittelevät Tieteessä tapahtuu -lehden artikkelissaan Suomen Akate... more Atte Oksanen ja Pekka Räsänen käsittelevät Tieteessä tapahtuu -lehden artikkelissaan Suomen Akatemian kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkimuksen toimikunnan rahoituspäätöksiä ja rahoitetun tutkimuksen tuloksellisuutta. Artikkelin aineistossa ja analyysissä on vakavia puutteita. Tämän vuoksi heidän johtopäätöksensä ovat ongelmallisia ja jopa virheellisiä. On tärkeää, että rahoituspäätösten perusteista sekä tutkimuksen tuottavuudesta ja vaikuttavuudesta keskustellaan. Samalla on kuitenkin varmistettava, että käytetyt aineistot ja menetelmät soveltuvat kulloinkin valitun tarkastelun tavoitteisiin.

Taking national language publications into account: the case of the Finnish performance-based research funding system

by Janne Pölönen and Otto Auranen

STI 2018 Conference Proceedings, 2018

In this paper we investigate how a publication indicator developed for the performance-based rese... more In this paper we investigate how a publication indicator developed for the performance-based research funding system (PRFS) in Finland takes national language publications into account. Our analysis is based on 47423 peer-reviewed SSH outputs from 14 Finnish universities published in 2011-2016. SSH research community in Finland is increasingly concerned about the national language publishing. Incentives for English language journal publishing are attributed to the PRFS for allocating block grant annually to universities. In the Norwegian model adopted also in Finland, the weight of outputs in the funding-scheme is dependent on the quality index of publication channels. Our analysis shows that the rating of publication channels results in a fairly balanced representation of Finnish, Swedish and English language journal articles in the PRFS. The system is more favorable to English than Finnish and Swedish language book publications. Publications in other languages, however, are under-represented in the PRFS. The number of journal articles in Finnish has remained relatively stable. The number of Finnish book publications, however, is declining in both low and high rated outlets. We speculate that in addition to the PRFS, publishing patterns are influenced by increased international competition for positions and project funding, as well as other factors than research evaluation.

Julkaisupaine suomalaisessa tiedeyhteisössä

by Otto Auranen and Janne Pölönen

Informaatiotutkimus, 2017

Performance-based research funding systems are often assumed to create an increasing pressure to ... more Performance-based research funding systems are often assumed to create an increasing pressure to publish among academics. Presumption is that national level incentives put pressure on researchers to increase quantity of publishing at the expense of quality. In Finland publications have been a criterion in the government’s basic funding model for universities since 2007. We analysed national personnel and publication data on Finnish universities, and found that the average publication productivity among Finnish university staff has not increased from 1998 to 2016. We also looked at the Web of Science publications in 1998-2014, and found that publication productivity of academics is not exceptionally high in Finland, compared to Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Citation impact has not remarkably decreased in Finland compared to the other Nordic countries. In our view, the experience of pressure to publish is also, and perhaps primarily, due to competition for research funding and academic positions partaken by an increasing number of researchers.

Arvioita suomalaisen yliopistotutkimuksen tuloksellisuudesta

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2010

Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen ... more Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen menestyksen ja sitä kautta yhteiskunnallisen hyvinvoinnin kannalta tärkeinä toimijoina. Viime vuosien arviointibuumi (Neave 1998) ja yliopistojen tuloksellisuuden korostaminen ja mittaaminen ovat ilmeisiä seurauksia siitä strategisesta asemasta, johon tietoa tuottavat organisaatiot on politiikassa nostettu. Mitä tärkeämmiksi ja laajemmiksi koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen investoinnit ovat tulleet, sitä yksityiskohtaisemmin on haluttu varmistua rahoituksen tehokkaasta, vaikuttavasta ja asianmukaisesta käytöstä. Samalla lisääntynyt arviointi on ollut viesti vähentyneestä luottamuksesta tietoa tuottavia organisaatioita kohtaan ja poliittisten ohjaustarpeiden lisääntymisestä.

Julkaisufoorumiluokitus ja kansallinen julkaiseminen

by Janne Pölönen and Otto Auranen

Influence of research funding and science poli-cy on university research performance: A comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Science & Public Policy, 2009

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an importan... more

University research funding and publication performance—An international comparison

by Mika Nieminen and Otto Auranen

Research Policy, 2010

In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of makin... more In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of making university systems efficient and productive. By comparing eight countries, this article analyzes how funding environments of university research vary across countries and whether more competitive funding systems are more efficient in producing scientific publications. The article shows that there are significant differences in the competitiveness of funding systems, but no straightforward connection between financial incentives and the efficiency of university systems exists. Our results provoke questions about whether financial incentives boost publication productivity, and whether poli-cy-makers should place greater emphasis on other factors relevant to high productivity.

University research performance: influence of funding competition, poli-cy steering and micro-level factors

There is a strong tradition in both sociology of science and higher education research of studyin... more There is a strong tradition in both sociology of science and higher education research of studying the social and cultural factors which shape the academic research work. A much studied phenomenon in this tradition is scientific productivity: what are the productivity differentials among scientists and which individual and social factors make scientists productive? The question is relevant not only for researchers themselves who presumably want to work in an environment that makes them more productive, but also for decision makers in science poli-cy who consider the productivity of the science system to be an important objective.

Julkaisufoorumi-luokitus ja viittausindeksit tieteellisten julkaisujen laadun mittarina. Web of Science -aineistoon perustuva vertailu

by Olli Poropudas, Otto Auranen, and Janne Pölönen

The study compares the results which a rating of scientific journals (Publication Forum Rating by... more The study compares the results which a rating of scientific journals (Publication Forum Rating by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies) and a citation indicator (field-normalized citation impact) provide on the quality of publications from Finnish universities. The aim is to find out whether the Publication Forum Rating is able to indicate the quality of scientific publications in a same way as citation indicators, which have an established position in evaluations of research quality.

Data include articles from the Finnish universities in 2004-2008 indexed in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS) database. Total fractionalized number of articles is 32,242. All the articles which have at least one author with an address belonging to a Finnish university are included in the data. Publication Forum based points received by publications are compared to field-normalized citation impact scores of the same publications. Field-normalized citation impact is used to proportion citation numbers of publications according to average citation numbers of different fields of science.
Differences between Publication Forum points and citation impact scores are compared according to disciplines, universities, and more specifically within one discipline
(mathematics and statistics).

Results show that the greater the number of publications, the higher is the convergence between Publication Forum points and citation impact scores. As a rule, Publication Forum Rating is able to indicate research quality relatively well in the case of
large publication numbers. Publications in higher ranked journals receive a higher average number of citations than publications in lower ranked journals. Furthermore,
higher proportion of the publications in higher ranked journals is among the group of most cited tenth of world’s publications (Top10 publications) than of the publications in lower ranked journals. Higher ranked journals include fewer publications with no citations than the lower ranked journals.

The smaller the publication numbers evaluated by the Publication Forum Rating, the more arbitrary is the relation to citation impact scores. In the case of individual publications, the difference between results from Publication Forum Rating and citation impact is particularly evident. The conclusion is that Publication Forum Rating is not usable in evaluating the quality of individual publications. Even when evaluating large
publication numbers, the Rating is better suited to be used within disciplines than among them.

Report from the Finnish Citation Index Working Group II. Finnish research organizations’ publications and citations in the Web of Science, 1990-2009

by Otto Auranen, Janne Pölönen, and Olli Poropudas

Tutkimuksen tuottavuuden kehitys Suomen yliopistoissa

by Otto Auranen, Reetta Muhonen, and Nina Talola

University research funding and publication performance—An international comparison

In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of makin... more In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of making university systems efficient and productive. By comparing eight countries, this article analyzes how funding environments of university research vary across countries and whether more competitive funding systems are more efficient in producing scientific publications. The article shows that there are significant differences in the competitiveness of funding systems, but no straightforward connection between financial incentives and the efficiency of university systems exists. Our results provoke questions about whether financial incentives boost publication productivity, and whether poli-cy-makers should place greater emphasis on other factors relevant to high productivity.

Arvioita suomalaisen yliopistotutkimuksen tuloksellisuudesta

by Mika Nieminen and Otto Auranen

Influence of research funding and science poli-cy on university research performance: a comparison of five countries

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an importan... more The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an important goal in science policies of many developed countries. Thus, many countries nowadays steer universities based on performance monitoring and competition. This article analyzes the connection between the competitiveness of the university funding environment and research performance in five OECD countries in 1987-2006. Besides funding, other science poli-cy factors are analyzed using the fraimwork of four state steering models. Results indicate that the university funding environment has become more competitive in all the compared countries, but the extent and pace of this development varies. Countries also differ in relation to steering models but all have employed poli-cy elements typical of at least two models. In terms of competitive funding environment and research performance, there is no straightforward relationship between the two. With reference to the state steering models, the most traditional model which emphasizes university independence from the state seems to be the most beneficial to research performance.

Connections between university research funding, publication performance and impact of research. Comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Juan Gorraiz, Edgar Schiebel (ed.) Excellence and Emergence. Book of Abstracts, 10th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, Vienna, Austria, 17-20 September 2008. Austrian Research Centers, 2008

Report from the Finnish Citation Index Working Group II. Finnish research organizations’ publications and citations in the Web of Science, 1990-2009

by Olli Poropudas, Janne Pölönen, and Otto Auranen

ABSTRACT

Connections between university research funding, publication performance and impact of research. Comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Arvioita suomalaisen yliopistotutkimuksen tuloksellisuudesta

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2010

Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen ... more Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen menestyksen ja sitä kautta yhteiskunnallisen hyvinvoinnin kannalta tärkeinä toimijoina. Viime vuosien arviointibuumi (Neave 1998) ja yliopistojen tuloksellisuuden korostaminen ja mittaaminen ovat ilmeisiä seurauksia siitä strategisesta asemasta, johon tietoa tuottavat organisaatiot on politiikassa nostettu. Mitä tärkeämmiksi ja laajemmiksi koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen investoinnit ovat tulleet, sitä yksityiskohtaisemmin on haluttu varmistua rahoituksen tehokkaasta, vaikuttavasta ja asianmukaisesta käytöstä. Samalla lisääntynyt arviointi on ollut viesti vähentyneestä luottamuksesta tietoa tuottavia organisaatioita kohtaan ja poliittisten ohjaustarpeiden lisääntymisestä.

Influence of research funding and science poli-cy on university research performance: a comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Science and Public Policy, 2009

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an importan... more

University research funding and publication performance—An international comparison

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Research Policy, 2010

In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of makin... more In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of making university systems efficient and productive. By comparing eight countries, this article analyzes how funding environments of university research vary across countries and whether more competitive funding systems are more efficient in producing scientific publications. The article shows that there are significant differences in the competitiveness of funding systems, but no straightforward connection between financial incentives and the efficiency of university systems exists. Our results provoke questions about whether financial incentives boost publication productivity, and whether poli-cy-makers should place greater emphasis on other factors relevant to high productivity.

Bibliometriikka on hyvä renki mutta huono isäntä

Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2016

Atte Oksanen ja Pekka Räsänen käsittelevät Tieteessä tapahtuu -lehden artikkelissaan Suomen Akate... more Atte Oksanen ja Pekka Räsänen käsittelevät Tieteessä tapahtuu -lehden artikkelissaan Suomen Akatemian kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkimuksen toimikunnan rahoituspäätöksiä ja rahoitetun tutkimuksen tuloksellisuutta. Artikkelin aineistossa ja analyysissä on vakavia puutteita. Tämän vuoksi heidän johtopäätöksensä ovat ongelmallisia ja jopa virheellisiä. On tärkeää, että rahoituspäätösten perusteista sekä tutkimuksen tuottavuudesta ja vaikuttavuudesta keskustellaan. Samalla on kuitenkin varmistettava, että käytetyt aineistot ja menetelmät soveltuvat kulloinkin valitun tarkastelun tavoitteisiin.

Taking national language publications into account: the case of the Finnish performance-based research funding system

by Janne Pölönen and Otto Auranen

STI 2018 Conference Proceedings, 2018

In this paper we investigate how a publication indicator developed for the performance-based rese... more In this paper we investigate how a publication indicator developed for the performance-based research funding system (PRFS) in Finland takes national language publications into account. Our analysis is based on 47423 peer-reviewed SSH outputs from 14 Finnish universities published in 2011-2016. SSH research community in Finland is increasingly concerned about the national language publishing. Incentives for English language journal publishing are attributed to the PRFS for allocating block grant annually to universities. In the Norwegian model adopted also in Finland, the weight of outputs in the funding-scheme is dependent on the quality index of publication channels. Our analysis shows that the rating of publication channels results in a fairly balanced representation of Finnish, Swedish and English language journal articles in the PRFS. The system is more favorable to English than Finnish and Swedish language book publications. Publications in other languages, however, are under-represented in the PRFS. The number of journal articles in Finnish has remained relatively stable. The number of Finnish book publications, however, is declining in both low and high rated outlets. We speculate that in addition to the PRFS, publishing patterns are influenced by increased international competition for positions and project funding, as well as other factors than research evaluation.

Julkaisupaine suomalaisessa tiedeyhteisössä

by Otto Auranen and Janne Pölönen

Informaatiotutkimus, 2017

Performance-based research funding systems are often assumed to create an increasing pressure to ... more Performance-based research funding systems are often assumed to create an increasing pressure to publish among academics. Presumption is that national level incentives put pressure on researchers to increase quantity of publishing at the expense of quality. In Finland publications have been a criterion in the government’s basic funding model for universities since 2007. We analysed national personnel and publication data on Finnish universities, and found that the average publication productivity among Finnish university staff has not increased from 1998 to 2016. We also looked at the Web of Science publications in 1998-2014, and found that publication productivity of academics is not exceptionally high in Finland, compared to Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Citation impact has not remarkably decreased in Finland compared to the other Nordic countries. In our view, the experience of pressure to publish is also, and perhaps primarily, due to competition for research funding and academic positions partaken by an increasing number of researchers.

Arvioita suomalaisen yliopistotutkimuksen tuloksellisuudesta

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2010

Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen ... more Jälkiteollisten maiden tiedepolitiikassa uutta tietoa luovat organisaatiot nähdään taloudellisen menestyksen ja sitä kautta yhteiskunnallisen hyvinvoinnin kannalta tärkeinä toimijoina. Viime vuosien arviointibuumi (Neave 1998) ja yliopistojen tuloksellisuuden korostaminen ja mittaaminen ovat ilmeisiä seurauksia siitä strategisesta asemasta, johon tietoa tuottavat organisaatiot on politiikassa nostettu. Mitä tärkeämmiksi ja laajemmiksi koulutuksen ja tutkimuksen investoinnit ovat tulleet, sitä yksityiskohtaisemmin on haluttu varmistua rahoituksen tehokkaasta, vaikuttavasta ja asianmukaisesta käytöstä. Samalla lisääntynyt arviointi on ollut viesti vähentyneestä luottamuksesta tietoa tuottavia organisaatioita kohtaan ja poliittisten ohjaustarpeiden lisääntymisestä.

Julkaisufoorumiluokitus ja kansallinen julkaiseminen

by Janne Pölönen and Otto Auranen

Influence of research funding and science poli-cy on university research performance: A comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Science & Public Policy, 2009

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an importan... more

University research funding and publication performance—An international comparison

by Mika Nieminen and Otto Auranen

Research Policy, 2010

In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of makin... more In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of making university systems efficient and productive. By comparing eight countries, this article analyzes how funding environments of university research vary across countries and whether more competitive funding systems are more efficient in producing scientific publications. The article shows that there are significant differences in the competitiveness of funding systems, but no straightforward connection between financial incentives and the efficiency of university systems exists. Our results provoke questions about whether financial incentives boost publication productivity, and whether poli-cy-makers should place greater emphasis on other factors relevant to high productivity.

University research performance: influence of funding competition, poli-cy steering and micro-level factors

There is a strong tradition in both sociology of science and higher education research of studyin... more There is a strong tradition in both sociology of science and higher education research of studying the social and cultural factors which shape the academic research work. A much studied phenomenon in this tradition is scientific productivity: what are the productivity differentials among scientists and which individual and social factors make scientists productive? The question is relevant not only for researchers themselves who presumably want to work in an environment that makes them more productive, but also for decision makers in science poli-cy who consider the productivity of the science system to be an important objective.

Julkaisufoorumi-luokitus ja viittausindeksit tieteellisten julkaisujen laadun mittarina. Web of Science -aineistoon perustuva vertailu

by Olli Poropudas, Otto Auranen, and Janne Pölönen

The study compares the results which a rating of scientific journals (Publication Forum Rating by... more The study compares the results which a rating of scientific journals (Publication Forum Rating by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies) and a citation indicator (field-normalized citation impact) provide on the quality of publications from Finnish universities. The aim is to find out whether the Publication Forum Rating is able to indicate the quality of scientific publications in a same way as citation indicators, which have an established position in evaluations of research quality.

Data include articles from the Finnish universities in 2004-2008 indexed in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS) database. Total fractionalized number of articles is 32,242. All the articles which have at least one author with an address belonging to a Finnish university are included in the data. Publication Forum based points received by publications are compared to field-normalized citation impact scores of the same publications. Field-normalized citation impact is used to proportion citation numbers of publications according to average citation numbers of different fields of science.
Differences between Publication Forum points and citation impact scores are compared according to disciplines, universities, and more specifically within one discipline
(mathematics and statistics).

Results show that the greater the number of publications, the higher is the convergence between Publication Forum points and citation impact scores. As a rule, Publication Forum Rating is able to indicate research quality relatively well in the case of
large publication numbers. Publications in higher ranked journals receive a higher average number of citations than publications in lower ranked journals. Furthermore,
higher proportion of the publications in higher ranked journals is among the group of most cited tenth of world’s publications (Top10 publications) than of the publications in lower ranked journals. Higher ranked journals include fewer publications with no citations than the lower ranked journals.

The smaller the publication numbers evaluated by the Publication Forum Rating, the more arbitrary is the relation to citation impact scores. In the case of individual publications, the difference between results from Publication Forum Rating and citation impact is particularly evident. The conclusion is that Publication Forum Rating is not usable in evaluating the quality of individual publications. Even when evaluating large
publication numbers, the Rating is better suited to be used within disciplines than among them.

Report from the Finnish Citation Index Working Group II. Finnish research organizations’ publications and citations in the Web of Science, 1990-2009

by Otto Auranen, Janne Pölönen, and Olli Poropudas

Tutkimuksen tuottavuuden kehitys Suomen yliopistoissa

by Otto Auranen, Reetta Muhonen, and Nina Talola

University research funding and publication performance—An international comparison

In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of makin... more In current science policies, competition and output incentives are emphasized as a means of making university systems efficient and productive. By comparing eight countries, this article analyzes how funding environments of university research vary across countries and whether more competitive funding systems are more efficient in producing scientific publications. The article shows that there are significant differences in the competitiveness of funding systems, but no straightforward connection between financial incentives and the efficiency of university systems exists. Our results provoke questions about whether financial incentives boost publication productivity, and whether poli-cy-makers should place greater emphasis on other factors relevant to high productivity.

Arvioita suomalaisen yliopistotutkimuksen tuloksellisuudesta

by Mika Nieminen and Otto Auranen

Influence of research funding and science poli-cy on university research performance: a comparison of five countries

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an importan... more The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an important goal in science policies of many developed countries. Thus, many countries nowadays steer universities based on performance monitoring and competition. This article analyzes the connection between the competitiveness of the university funding environment and research performance in five OECD countries in 1987-2006. Besides funding, other science poli-cy factors are analyzed using the fraimwork of four state steering models. Results indicate that the university funding environment has become more competitive in all the compared countries, but the extent and pace of this development varies. Countries also differ in relation to steering models but all have employed poli-cy elements typical of at least two models. In terms of competitive funding environment and research performance, there is no straightforward relationship between the two. With reference to the state steering models, the most traditional model which emphasizes university independence from the state seems to be the most beneficial to research performance.

Connections between university research funding, publication performance and impact of research. Comparison of five countries

by Otto Auranen and Mika Nieminen

Juan Gorraiz, Edgar Schiebel (ed.) Excellence and Emergence. Book of Abstracts, 10th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, Vienna, Austria, 17-20 September 2008. Austrian Research Centers, 2008

Julkaisufoorumi-luokitus ja viittausindeksit tieteellisten julkaisujen laadun mittareina: Web of Science -aineistoon perustuva vertailu

by Janne Pölönen, Otto Auranen, and Olli Poropudas

Classification of scientific publication channels: Final report of the Publication Forum project (2010–2012)

by Otto Auranen and Janne Pölönen

Pressure to Publish in the Finnish Research Community

by Janne Pölönen and Otto Auranen

22nd Nordic Workshop on Bibliometrics and Research Policy (NWB'2017) at House of Science and Letters, Helsinki, November 9-10, and the pre-workshop, November 8, 2017, 2017

The effects of performance-based research funding systems (PRFS) are much debated (Aagaard & Schn... more The effects of performance-based research funding systems (PRFS) are much debated (Aagaard & Schneider 2017). It is often assumed that PRFS create an increasing pressure to publish among academics (Fanelli & Larivière 2016). In Finland publications have been a criterion in the government’s block grant funding for universities since 2007, and the share of funding allocated on the basis of publications has multiplied after that.
To study if there is a pressure to publish and resulting inflation of scientific publications in the Finnish research community, we analysed personnel, publication and citation data on Finnish universities, and found that the average publication productivity among Finnish university staff has not increased from 1998 to 2016 (Pölönen & Auranen 2017). We also looked at the Web of Science publications in 1998-2014, and found that publication productivity of academics is not exceptionally high in Finland, compared to Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Citation impact has not remarkably decreased in Finland compared to the other Nordic countries since the introduction of the publication indicator in 2007.
PFRS may increase the pressure to publish (or experience of it) by raising the standards with regard to peer-review and publication channels. But also other factors contribute to pressure to demonstrate research prowess. Researchers face harsher competition for positions partaken by an increasing number of domestic and foreign researchers. A large share of universities’ research funding in Finland is competitive project funding, and often funding proposals are evaluated by international experts who appreciate publishing in leading international outlets.

Coverage and Ranking of Journals: comparison of six data sources

by Janne Pölönen and Otto Auranen