The 80-year development of Vietnam mathematical research: Preliminary insights from the SciMath database on mathematicians, their works and their networks

Abstract

Starting with the first international publication of Le Van Thiem (Lê Văn Thiêm) in 1947, modern mathematics in Vietnam is a longstanding research field. However, what is known about its development usually comes from discrete essays such as anecdotes or interviews of renowned mathematicians. We introduce SciMath—a database on publications of Vietnamese mathematicians. To ensure this database covers as many publications as possible, data entries are manually collected from scientists’ publication records, journals’ websites, universities, and research institutions. Collected data went through various verification steps to ensure data quality and minimize errors. At the time of this report, the database covered 8372 publications, profiles of 1566 Vietnamese, and 1492 foreign authors since 1947. We found a growing capability in mathematics research in Vietnam in various aspects: scientific output, publications on influential journals, or collaboration. The database and preliminary results were presented to the Scientific Council of Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) on November 13th, 2020.

The first three years

“…Then, we had a well-received paper about the COVID-19 pandemic [7]. The publications came slower toward the end of the year, but I got a chance to work with the Field Medalist Ngô Bảo Châu [8]. The project is similar to the SSHPA database.…”

Phát triển khoa học và công nghệ: Đâu là con đường cho Việt Nam?

“…Trong những năm gần đây, dự án phát triển cơ sở dữ liệu ngành toán học Việt Nam là một trong các dự án liên ngành tiêu biểu được thực hiện [16,17]. Dự án được thực hiện bởi Viện Nghiên cứu cao cấp về toán (Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics -VIASM) và Phòng Lab Trí tuệ nhân tạo cho dữ liệu xã hội (AI for Social Data Lab -AISDL) dưới sự chỉ đạo của hai tổng công trình sư là: GS.…”