Research in Ireland: An International Comparison

In December 2009 a comprehensive study of publicly-funded research performance revealed that Ireland had improved in terms of the volume and impact of its research. Ireland ranks 8th on the impact of research publications within a group of 20 comparator countries, including Denmark (1), Netherlands (3), US (4), UK (6), Finland (8), Australia (10), Singapore (13) and China (17).

The study was conducted on behalf of Forfás and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) by Evidence Ltd, part of the Thomson Reuters Group. It shows that Ireland is punching above its weight in terms of the impact of its research. The study notes that the volume of research articles and reviews from Irish institutions, predominantly higher education institutions, published in recognised international journals has more than doubled in the past decade. Ireland contributed 0.5% of the world share of papers in 2007, compared to 0.35% in 1998. Ireland is ranked 18th for this indicator.
However, while Ireland has doubled its research volume, it started from a low base. All other comparator countries also increased their research output resulting in Ireland’s volume ranking staying steady in the 10 year period. This demonstrates how competitive research is internationally.

Conor Lenihan, TD, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation commented: 'the findings of this research are very encouraging. Ireland has invested significantly in research and development and this study clearly shows that we are achieving high impact. This study provides us with a useful a set of evidence which can assist in guiding policy decisions
in this critical area for the future of our economy.'

Martin Shanahan, Manager, Science Technology and Human Capital Policy Division, Forfás commented: 'the findings show that Ireland has pockets of competitive research within many fields of science. From an enterprise perspective, citation data is also important as it is a good proxy for the quality of research and it can help to influence decisions on the location of the capital investment of companies and venture capitalists. This study is one element of a larger project which is looking at how the publically-funded research system is currently aligned with the enterprise base and how it can support the development of future enterprise. It is clear that we need to prioritise and focus on niche areas related to key technologies of economic importance and become leaders in these areas.'

Welcoming the citation trends for Irish research, HEA Chief Executive, Tom Boland said that 'while Ireland has only become a really serious player in research over the past decade, it is clear that we are making our mark. Inclusion in some of the world’s leading journals of new knowledge generated from Irish researchers is a significant recognition of what our
research community is achieving. The challenge now will be maintaining this strong performance and ensuring that optimum benefit is reaped in terms of impact on the economy and society.'

The study also notes positively that Ireland’s international collaboration is rising. While improving, the need for greater collaboration between Irish institutions is highlighted and shows that the level of co-operation on research between institutions in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is particularly low.

With respect to particular areas of research, the report shows that in terms of citation impact, health research and physical sciences perform particularly well. In volume terms QUB (Queen's University Belfast), UCD (University College Dublin), TCD (Trinity College Dublin) and UCC (University College Cork) are the largest. Citation impact has increased for most higher education institutions with RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), TCD, UCD and DIAS (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies) rating the highest.

Click here to read the report in full.

Useful Links
www.euraxess.ie - Information resource for researchers moving to Ireland

The following are some of the largest sponsors of publically funded research in Ireland:

www.hrb.ie - Health Research Board
www.esri.ie - Economic and Social Research Institute
www.sfi.ie - Science Foundation Ireland
www.ria.ie - Royal Irish Academy
www.ircset.ie - Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology
www.irchss.ie - Irish Research Council for the Humanities & Social Sciences
www.epa.ie - Environmental Protection Agency
www.teagasc.ie - Agriculture and Food Development Authority