Is research in social sciences in Vietnam lagging behind?

VietNamNet Bridge - The number of new authors who have had articles internationally published for the first time has increased rapidly in the last five years, a survey has found.

VietNamNet Bridge - The number of new authors who have had articles internationally published for the first time has increased rapidly in the last five years, a survey has found.

The number of new authors have increased rapidly in the last five years

Vuong Quan Hoang from NVSSH, a network of researchers in social sciences and humanities under Phenikka University, and his co-workers conducted a survey to find why this had occurred.

They spent two years collecting materials from prestigious international scientific publications recognized by NAFOSTED (National Foundation for Science and Technology Development). These include Scopus articles and other publications.

Hoang found that the number of authors who have articles internationally published for the first time in the last five years has increased very rapidly.

In nearly 11 years, from 2008 to November 2018, NVSSH found 1,070 Vietnamese authors (in Vietnam and overseas) who published 1,937 articles in 1,019 journals, books and summary records of international seminars.

In nearly 11 years, from 2008 to November 2018, NVSSH found 1,070 Vietnamese authors (in Vietnam and overseas) who published 1,937 articles in 1,019 journals, books and summary records of international seminars.

One author in the last 11 years published two articles in prestigious scientific journals on average, or 0.2 articles a year.

“The figures show the very low capacity of Vietnamese scientists compared with regional universities, let alone universities in the world, where one scientist has two to three articles published internationally each year,” Hoang commented.

However, Hoang and his co-workers still find ‘bright parts’.

Up to 40.8 percent of international publications were implemented by Vietnamese and 26.4 percent of solo authors.

The figure is described as encouraging. “It shows that there is a certain proportion of Vietnamese scientists who are self-reliant in international integration,” said Tran Viet Nhan Hao, a researcher who received an award for young scientists in 2018 from the Theoretical Physics Society.

The group of 10 top authors alone made up over 400 articles in his list, or 40 articles over the last 11 years, or four articles a year.

“These are scientists who are at an international professional level and rank with researchers in natural sciences, which have higher level of international integration in Vietnam,” Hao said.

When analyzing the numbers of articles, Hoang found that Hanoi, HCMC and Da Nang made the greatest contribution to the development of social sciences in the last 11 years.

Hanoi National University, with 241 published articles, ranks first in the list of organizations with the highest number of publications. The second position belongs to Hanoi Economics University (127) and Hanoi Medical University (101).

Among well-known universities is Duy Tan University, a private school which ranks 7th, with 61 publications.