Scientific research and dream top 200

Vietnam is striving to have some of the top 200 universities in the world by 2020.

One of the important standards of this top 200 is scientific research and international publication achievements. However, based on the current international publication situation, the expectation for top 200 will probably be just an unrealistic dream.

A teaching session of lecturers of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for students
year 2 business administration department. ( Photo: Nhu Hung )

Scientific research is an essential activity, if not number 1 of a world-class university. Universities today are generally built on the ideas and models of Von Humboldt, in which the university acts as a cultural and humanistic center, with the function of teaching, researching, and creating knowledge. new and technology transfer for the economy. The true force and achievement of scientific research is a defining norm and distinguishes a world-class university from a ' mediocre ' university.

The university contributes to the creation of new knowledge through three main activities: the study of new knowledge, the training of talents, and the harmonization of cultural differences, in which the research role of the university is increasingly considered important. One of the factors that have a great influence on the knowledge economy that Vietnam is aiming at is the ability to create, expressed through technological improvements, but the specific measure is the number of scientific articles and patents.

International publication: Where are we?

In 2010, Vietnamese scientists published about 1,000 scientific papers on international scientific journals. This number increased compared to the period of 2004-2009, but still very modest compared to other countries in the region. The number of Vietnamese scientific works published in scientific journals is only about 1/4 Thailand and 1/8 Singapore, and this position has not changed significantly in the past five years.

One university, 6 names

Hanoi University of Natural Sciences appears in international journals under at least six different names, which, according to Prof. Pham Duy Hien, may harm the ranking.

Hanoi Natl Univ
Hanoi Univ Sci
Vietnam Natl Univ, Coll Nat Sci
VNU Hanoi, Univ Sci
Univ Hanoi
Vietnam Natl Univ Hanoi, Coll Sci

Another concern is that over 60% of Vietnamese science works published in international journals are due to cooperation or joint work with foreign scientists. In other words, only about 40% of the research is 'pure Vietnamese'. Therefore, in fact, our country's scientific strength is still very low, not enough to compete in the international arena.

Such quantity, quality is not high. Most scientific research of Vietnam only published on the journals with very low coefficient. In any field of science, the citation index of Vietnamese studies falls into the lowest category. About 30-40% of Vietnamese articles on mathematics and physics have never been cited. This non-citation rate in engineering is up to 41%!

Scientific research of Vietnam still focuses on the fields of theory and low technology, with the strength of mathematics, physics, public health and tropical medicine . In contrast, countries have a strong economy. more developed economy Vietnam has advantages in applied sciences such as medicine, biotechnology, biochemistry and molecular biology, engineering .

There have been many people analyzing the causes of weak science of Vietnam, from lack of investment in scientific research, many lecturers and professors are not interested in scientific research, lack of motivation to do scientific research. to lack of a healthy science environment, scientific management mechanism has many shortcomings, poor English .

One of the reasons scientists are not interested in scientific research is that the mechanism of funding is still 'in the main '. A retired professor once told the writer that he was afraid to apply for funding from the department or the Ministry of Science and Technology, because he had to deal with an unpopular review committee in his area of ​​expertise. , and he is even more frightened when it takes a lot of time to finance the research project. All these causes lead to a shortage of leading scientists to lead Vietnamese science.

Look at challenges, see opportunities

But the challenges presented are actually opportunities. Perhaps it should start with specific solutions, which can be summarized in four areas: investment in basic science, scientific research, intellectual human resource training, and standards.

Investment in basic science: Unlike industrial production with specific material products that the public can use for daily life, products of basic scientific research are often abstract. In many cases, the achievements of scientific research are only evident after several decades after the research is finished.

Based on the relationship between investment in science and technology, can it be explained that the modest contribution of Vietnam is due to the state investment for this activity is too low? Each year, the Ministry of Science and Technology must repay over VND 100 billion to the state budget because it cannot be distributed to scientific research. Therefore, the problem is not to increase investment, but to invest and distribute the budget so that it is highly efficient.

Encouraging scientific research, training intellectuals: An important priority is to have regulations to ensure scientists and lecturers can live with their salaries, in addition to rewarding lecturers. Members have international publication.

Scientific research at international level requires relatively expensive scientific means, perhaps that is also the reason why local scientists must cooperate with foreign colleagues.

Cooperation in research is a good thing in modern scientific activities, but how to cooperate with the material and scientific knowledge based on Vietnam's materials is still the problem of Vietnamese people, especially now. ' collaborative science in the form of paratroopers ', in which Vietnamese authors are only ' fighters ' and possess knowledge is still foreign authors, although the research material is from Vietnam and Vietnamese people!

Standards: Vietnamese science is still too modest in the international and regional fields, partly because our universities and scientific research centers do not have regulations on scientific research standards in line with standards. international ink. The system of professor promotion in our country still relies on ' domestic ' standards, but does not pay much attention to the level of contribution to science with works published in international scientific journals.

It should be considered that the publication of research results on international journals is an indicator to evaluate state-funded research projects. The recent draft of the Ministry of Education and Training's doctoral training also stipulates that doctoral students publish at least one scientific article on international journals before defending the thesis. If this standard or regulation is well implemented, it is expected that the presence of Vietnamese science in the international arena will be improved in the next few years.

Every year, our country spends about 400 million USD for scientific research. This figure accounts for about 0.17% of the national GDP. But the results of that investment are still not measurable due to the lack of specific standards.

International publication is an objective measure that advanced countries have successfully applied to assess the effectiveness of money that people spend. If we have not yet created a new metric, the best way is based on the norms accepted by the international scientific community: it is an international publication.

The world ' share ' of scientific publications is changing rapidly, with the growing presence of developing countries. In 1985, the number of scientific publications from the United States and Canada accounted for nearly 40% of the total number of publications in the world, but by 1991 this number fell to 28.2%, and in 1998 was 31.4%. During that time, the number of publications from China, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong . increased ' shares ' from 10% to 24%.

The number of publications from Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, has also increased rapidly during the last 10 years, although the absolute numbers are still modest compared with the scientific powers such as the US, Canada and Western countries. Europe.

This is the ideal time to improve the presence of Vietnamese science to a higher level, by increasing the number and quality of scientific publications in the international arena, is also an essential first step. to think of the ' top 200 ' wish for Vietnamese universities.