Irish Research Ranked 8th in World
Irish Research Ranked Eight in the World
Need for more Collaboration within Ireland, especially with Northern Ireland
A comprehensive international study of higher education research performance has ranked Ireland eight on the impact of our research publications and notes that the volume of research articles and reviews from Irish universities and colleges published in recognised international journals more than doubled in the past decade.
The study by Evidence Ltd., part of the Thomson Reuters group, on behalf of the Higher Education Authority and Forfas, however also highlighted the need for greater collaboration between Irish institutions and showed that the level of co-operation on research between institutions in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was low.
Ireland is now ranked 8th on citation impact internationally (having overtaken Australia and Finland) and 18th in volume. On volume, Ireland shows an impressive increase (+33%) in terms of research output for the five years 2002-2007, second only in terms of the increase by China (+59%).
The volume of research articles and reviews from Irish higher education institutions published in recognised international journals more than doubled in the past decade. The output for the UK, Germany and France was roughly level for the same period.
Welcoming the trend, HEA Chief Executive, Tom Boland said –
“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 information from Irish researchers is a significant recognition of what our research community is achieving.”