ULS stands out among schools with a focus on the quality of their scientific research

conicyt

In the report of the scientific activity carried out in Chile between 2003-2012, the University of La Serena stands out for its indicators in Normalized Impact, Excellence 10 and Excellence 1, all led; and in the Normalized Impact Led on the world and Excellence 10 Led on Chile quadrant.

As one of the higher education institutions in the country with a focus on the quality of its scientific research, the University of La Serena is rated in the report “Main scientometric indicators of Chilean scientific activity 2012. Report 2014: A look at 10 years” , published by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research, CONICYT, within its Scientific Information Program. 

The study, whose objective is to characterize the scientific research developed in Chile, by determining the levels of visibility, collaboration, excellence and leadership achieved between 2003-2012, was requested from the SCImago research group, recognized specialists in the field, who between Its most notable projects are the magazine evaluation portal SCImago Journal and Country Rank (http://www.scimagojr.com/) and the SCImago Institutions Rankings (http://www.scimagoir.com/) for the analysis of the performance of research institutions around the world. 

Among the indicators that are measured in the study are: articles published in the best journals (Q1), this is a quality indicator, which indicates the proportion of articles that a country (respectively an institution) manages to publish in scientific journals. that represent the most prestigious 25% in the world in each subject; and the Normalized Impact of Chile (institutions) in relation to the world (NI), this is an index that compares the average number of citations received by documents published in a country (respectively in an institution) with the number of citations received by world scientific production in the same period. 

With regard to the basic indicators of university institutions, the report states that “between the two periods compared, the greatest changes are qualitative, and are seen in the Impact Indicators and Total and Led Excellence, more than in the research effort. It is evident how some institutions move from a strategy based on quantity to another that focuses on quality. The first is based on the incentive of international collaboration and the second is based on Excellence teams that publish in high quartile journals. By breaking the logic of quantity and focusing on Normalized Impact, Excellence 10 and Excellence 1, all led, in the period 2003-2007 the universities of Magallanes stand out, La Serena and Federico Santa María. In the period 2008-2012, he took the leadership of the Federico Santa María University followed by the University of La Serena. In the period 2008-2012, non-led Normalized Impact and Excellence indicators were achieved by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the University of Valparaíso. “These institutions achieve performance above the world average.”

Regarding the relationship between led Normalized Impact and Led Excellence in the universities that carry out the most research, the report indicates that of the distribution achieved by the universities that carried out the most research in the country between 2003-2011 and between 2008-2012, to the ordering them with respect to the Normalized Led Impact and Led Excellence, it can be concluded that “in the quadrant Normalized Led Impact on the world and Led Excellence 10 on Chile are the Federico Santa María Technical University and the University of La Serena, which throughout the period gains Excelencia 10 led. For its part, the University of Magallanes suffers a setback.” 

It is added that in the Led Normalized Impact and Led Excellence quadrant on Chile, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the University of Chile are located, and that the universities of Santiago, Magallanes, and Austral maintain Led Normalized Impact on Chile.

The Director of Research at the ULS, Dr. Eduardo Notte, pointed out that this CONICYT report, “is a great incentive for the University of La Serena, it confirms that the evolution that Scientific Research has been showing within the ULS is solid and of quality, the support and incentive programs that the institution has implemented are going in the right direction. However, this does not mean that the institution should leave things as they are, we know that in the next four years the University will reinforce scientific research with the creation of new doctoral programs, which will undoubtedly give a new impetus to the development of research and the formation of advanced human capital.”

Research in regions

Another notable aspect of this report is about regional scientific production, concluding that “the attractiveness of the Universities of Santiago is high. The regions are Santiago's quarry. “Institutional actors do not have sufficient capacity to reverse this situation and public policy has been insufficient to change the order of things.”  

With respect to the Coquimbo Region, the report states that "when comparing the two time windows, the indicators of Normalized Impact, Excellence 10%, and Excellence 1%, total and led, it is confirmed that Antofagasta and Magallanes lose their ability to be above the world average and Coquimbo maintains its performance." On the other hand, "they reach levels of international collaboration significantly above the Chilean average Coquimbo and Magellan. "In this case, their condition as natural laboratories has an influence, which makes them attractive to international researchers."

"The only region of Chile that between 2003 and 2012 has improved its capacity to do science is Valparaíso. This reflects the growth experienced by the universities present in the Region that carry out research, which by strengthening their doctoral programs and creation of research centers, with the support of different programs such as the CONICYT Regional Centers, the Millennium Scientific Initiative, among others, have managed to expand their research capacity," the report explains. 

More details of the report “Main scientometric indicators of Chilean scientific activity 2012. Report 2014: A look at 10 years”, are available at: http://www.conicyt.cl/informacioncientifica/files/2014/08/Informe-de-Chile-2012.pdf.