37 years of scientific activity in a Biochemistry Department in Brazil: patterns of growth and factors leading to increased productivity

Abstract

Scientific activity in Brazil has experienced an accelerated growth in the past decades, with an increase in productivity that greatly surpasses the international average. This growth has occurred mostly at the expense of centers of excellence in public universities, which account for the vast majority of the country's scientific output. The aim of this study was to evaluate the production of the Department of Biochemistry of a large public university in southern Brazil (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), as well as to identify internal and external policies that have influenced this growing production profile. We have performed a historical analysis of the scientific output of this Department of Biochemistry, which accounts for a considerable share of the indexed scientific production at this university. By focusing on the temporal course of its growth and drawing correlations between scientific output and important events in the history of the Department of Biochemistry and of the Brazilian science policies, we concluded that internal factors (as the creation of a postgraduation program, collaboration among researchers, experienced abroad researchers, qualification of faculty members) and external factors (as investments in the postgraduate education, the establishment of national scientific policies, such as financial stimuli for productive researchers and evaluation systems) influence scientific productivity in Brazil.

Factors influencing scholarly publication productivity: a systematic review

“…Collaboration is found to be the positively influencing factor of publication productivity at individual level and country level in many disciplines such as pharmacy, biochemistry and health education in many studies (Mamun and Rahman, 2015;Gomes et al, 2011;Morris et al, 2011;and Ransdell et al, 2001). Collaboration and publications are both significantly and positively affect each other (Mamun and Rahman, 2015).…”

“…Conversely, senior researchers and junior researchers have not any difference in the contribution of publications (Mamun and Rahman, 2015). The higher the academic qualification, the higher will be the publication productivity (Gomes et al, 2011;Fennewald, 2008). Doctorate degree holders have a positive impact on research productivity than non-doctorate degree holders (Mamun and Rahman, 2015;Bentley, 2011;and Puuska, 2010).…”

The role of knowledge management in driving academic advancement: empirical examination from the lens of the social cognitive theory

“…First, it supports the notion of Wahid et al (2021) asserting that beyond competency-based factors of researchers, environment-related factors also play an essential role in driving research outcomes. Second, it advocates the arguments of Ibegbulam and Jacintha (2016), Mamun and Rahman (2015) and Gomes et al (2011), emphasizing that AA has a crucial role in driving the productivity of scientific research. In particular, this result also agrees with that of Bentley (2011) and Fursov et al (2016), highlighting that international-level AA strongly influences international publication growth.…”

“…As emphasized by Morris et al (2011) and Hoffmann et al (2017), international publications are influenced by RS and writing skills. Moreover, Gomes et al (2011) and Fennewald (2008) highlighted that the extent of academic qualification is related to the international publication productivity of researchers. In this regard, doctoral degree holders outperform those without such a degree in terms of research productivity (Mamun and Rahman, 2015; Bentley, 2011).…”

“…In the context of publication productivity, in addition to competency-based factors of the researcher, environment-related factors also play an essential role in driving research outcomes (Wahid et al , 2021), for instance, accessibility to mainstream literature in the field and sources of reliable data, industry and university relationship and other support from peers (Wahid et al , 2021). In this sense, AA in scientific research is crucial, positively affecting scientific research productivity (Ibegbulam and Jacintha, 2016; Mamun and Rahman, 2015; Gomes et al , 2011). In the domain of international publication, international-level AA strongly influences international publication growth (Bentley, 2011; Fursov et al , 2016).…”