Search

The paper takes a scientometric approach to measure the change in research productivity of Italian academics before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. We propose a composite output/input bibliometric indicator and apply it at the field level, conducting a longitudinal analysis. Although the number of academics in the national academic system has decreased, we register very strong growth in both the number of publications and their scholarly impact. The growth in productivity, with only rare exceptions, crosses almost all fields. However, in areas that are traditionally very internationalized (Biology, Physics, and Chemistry), growth is less sustained than overall average, and also the variability of productivity across fields seems reduced. The main reason for this detail would be the smaller margins for improvement in the fields that had already reached high international standing. What emerges from the analysis goes counter to some alarms of declining scientific productivity at the global level. The Italian case is partly explained by the historic adoption of policies aimed at strengthening competitive mechanisms, in particular through the introduction of systems of performance-based research funding, and bibliometric accreditation for professorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is that of providing a in-depth analysis of the results of the Italian Research Evaluation Exercise (VQR), specifically looking at possible existing correlations among scientific quality and a number of product- and researcher-specific variables. Ratings are found to crucially depend on language and typology of publication and on themethodology adopted for evaluation; younger researchers and Full Professors are also receiving, ceteris paribus, a better evaluation. Outcomes submitted by researchers working in the Centre-North of the country usually obtain better evaluations than those in the South. Public funding to University research is finally found to be correlated with positive ranking in the assessment exercise, especially in natural sciences and engineering, where there is particular need of appropriate funding for conducing laboratories experiments and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of national research assessment exercises serves to evaluate the effectiveness of policies versus their objectives and to improve the formulation of future initiatives. The aim of the current study is to verify whether the introduction of the first performance-based research funding in Italy, based on the 2004–10 VQR assessment, achieved the intended objective of inducing greater international collaboration on the part of researchers. For this, we apply a bibliometric approach based on the observation of coauthorships in Italian and worldwide scientific publications over a 14-year period, beginning in the target years of the VQR assessment. Through an Interrupted Time Series Analysis, we compare the expected and observed patterns of international coauthorship for Italy and the rest of the world. Although the rate of internationalization of Italian research is seen to be increasing, whether this is a consequence of the VQR incentives, or rather part of a global phenomenon of recourse to international collaboration in response to the increasingly complex scientific challenges, it is open to interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments and organizations design performance-based research funding systems (PBRFS) for strategic aims, such as to selectively allocate scarce resources and stimulate research efficiency. In this work, we analyze the relative change in research productivity of Italian universities after the introduction of such a system, featuring financial and reputational incentives. Using a bibliometric approach, we compare the relative research performance of universities before and after the introduction of PBRFS, at the overall, discipline and field levels. The findings show convergence in the universities' performance, due above all to the remarkable improvement of the lowest performers. Geographically, the universities of the south (vs central and northern Italy) achieved the greatest improvement in relative performance. The methodology, and results, should be of use to university management and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]