Time is the most valuable resource
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People in the Faculty of Humanities have concerns about international publishing. "The Research Council sees publishing in the English language important. What will happen to the Finnish language as a science language?" asks Dean Timo Lauttamus. |
Forums were divided into three categories
To improve the quality assessment of scientific publications, the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies carried out the so-called Publication Forum Project. The objective was to create a research assessment tool which would consider quality, and not only quantity of publications.
Underlying the Publication Forum is a classification system for scientific journals, publication series and book publishers covering all disciplines. The first classification was completed in 2011.
Scientific journals and series are classified into three levels:
Level 1 comprises the most important domestic and foreign publication channels in the various disciplines, meeting the definition of a scientific publication channel.
Level 2 covers the leading scientific journals and series of the various disciplines. Some Finnish or Swedish-language publication channels can qualify as level 2, if they reach international expert audiences in their respective disciplines.
Level 3 comprises level 2 journals and series which represent state-of-the-art quality in the respective area.
The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies maintains and updates the list of classified publication channels.
http://www.tsv.fi/julkaisufoorumi/ |
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text and photo Anna-Maria Raudaskoski
Already substantial, the significance of research publications is becoming absolutely vital both for researchers and their institutions. Funding by the Ministry of Education and Culture is partially dependent on publications, and even external funders are looking closely at the number of citations and publications. And top positions in international ranking lists can only be achieved by universities boasting a prolific research output.
For the past few years, the total number of publications from university entities has numbered around 3,200. In 2012, there were 2,350 scientific and 864 other publications. The latter figure, in particular, has shown a marked increase over the past four years; to provide a point of comparison, in 2009, this figure was 573.
In the view of Taina Pihlajaniemi, Vice-Rector for Research, this is not a bad situation to be in. “A steady growth can be seen in the number of international publications. As it is, about 40 % of all publications from the university are produced by the Faculty of Medicine, and their figures are also increasing. Researchers are being goaded to publish on international forums.”
Publications are by no means judged by quantity alone, they are also evaluated from the perspective of quality. Thus, the Ministry of Education and Culture revised its funding policy and ranked different publications forums by quality.
In this ranking, scientific publication channels fall into three categories, with the highly regarded international forums constituting levels 2 and 3. “This quality component begins to affect funding as of 2015”, Pihlajaniemi states.
Astronomers gain telescope time
A working group was assigned the task of developing the university’s publication policies and strategies. In a recent memo, the group points out that prolific publication activities of a high standard are the hallmark of a successful science-based university. The working group has further spelled out measures of improving publication activities, such as training, guidance and peer support.
In addition, the group has outlined a range of recommendations designed to enhance both the volume and quality of publications.
The university must invest in recruitment: when appointing researchers and professors, it is vital to devote special attention to their research record, as it is indicative of the number and quality of their publications.
Support must be provided specifically to units with low research output and quality. With the right kind of support and incentives in place, their track record can be improved fairly rapidly.
Publication figures make differences between disciplines readily apparent. For example, the RAE2013 research assessment exercise brought out a clear distinction between the cardiologist and the linguist: the former has an abundance of forums on offer, while the latter has very few.
“A member of a large research group gets publication credits almost automatically. I would personally direct support measures, such as training, to junior researchers on one hand and to seniors on the other, as they need time for writing”, says project leader Sinikka Eskelinen, a member of the working group.
In her view, researchers have been robbed of an essential resource, time, by “this recent spate of reforms”. “What an astronomer really need is time at the telescope”, Eskelinen describes. “And lots of hard work.”
Hard cash incentive
In the Faculty of Humanities, one measure of guaranteeing time for research hinges on dividing the academic year into four periods, one of which is reserved to writing. “We’ve arrived at this solution, because many of our staff only get to work on research in their spare time, which is not an ideal situation”, says Dean Timo Lauttamus.
Benefits of the solution are already being felt, as the number of publications produced by the tiny faculty increases by about 20 each year. Hence, a total of 429 publications were recorded in 2010, rising to 446 in 2012 and reaching 467 last year.
Another incentive by the faculty comes in the form of cold hard cash. Last year, 28,000 euros were given to researchers to encourage publishing. Included in the sum are language checking fees, which would otherwise be paid out of the researchers’ own pockets. “As a result, we’ve seen an increase in publications in English,” Lauttamus rejoices.
This type of financial support is possible, because the faculty’s balance sheet is in the black. And so a virtuous circle has been created: the faculty encourages publishing to increase funding, and researchers publish, because they have a financial incentive to do so.
“A refereed, peer-reviewed, article at level 2 or 3 brings in 6,000 - 8,000 euros to the faculty.”
Achieved success has fed into publishing activities. “What we in the Humanities have lacked is self-confidence, although we publish quality articles and our standards are high” Lauttamus says. There is now a conscious effort to direct publishing toward scientific journals and refereed articles.
Lauttamus emphasizes the importance of actively promoting publishing. The faculty has regular “Where are we now?” meetings and “Coffee breaks with the Dean” to highlight funding-related questions. In addition, the Research Council of the faculty has agreed on strategic measures to increase the volume of publications.
“Researchers have clearly understood our goals”, Timo Lauttamus applauds.
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