The number of Vietnamese scientists working in Vietnam on the list is still very low, below 30, out of 100,000 scientists

Plos Biology has released a list of 100,000 researchers leading in scientific citations based on Scopus metrics.

The criteria used to rank scientists include the scientists’ influence index in their fields and the scientists’ community; numbers of citations; H-index; HM-index number of citations for published articles as sole authors; number of citations for published articles as major authors and final authors.

Some people argue that the number of citations is not enough to assess scientists’ ranks.

Nguyen Dinh Duc from Hanoi National University, one of the Vietnamese scientists on the list, while agreeing that the citation index is not the only index used to assess the influence of scientists, said it is an important index, and sometimes, the most important.

“The criteria used for the ranking are comprehensive based on many indicators, not just the total number of citations one researcher has,” Duc said.

“I believe that for a researcher, if his or her research results are not cited, it cannot be said that the researcher has influence in the scientific community. Of course, every ranking follows its specific principles and there could be shortcomings,” he said.

The university rankings by THE, QS and ARWU, for example, also use different criteria in assessment, but each ranking has its own significance and value, which helps universities know where they stand in the world.

Asked why many well-known scientists are not listed in the top 100,000 for single year, Duc said this is not because they are not prestigious, but possibly because their publication capacity in the surveyed years was lower than other scientists.

“Many foreign or Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) professors I know named in the list are all leading professors. I believe that thanks to the ranking, scientists can know where they are, which gives them, especially young scientists with excellent abilities, a driving force to become confident to embark on the path of scientific research,” he said.

Dr Pham Hiep, Research Center of Edlab Asia, an education research and development center, said that any ranking has disadvantages and possible measurement errors. However, the criteria used for measurement methods can give specific figures instead of subjective judgments, so they still have significance.

“I think the most important significance of the ranking is that it shows that the number of Vietnamese scientists working in Vietnam on the list is still very low, below 30, out of 100,000 scientists. This can partially show the situation of Vietnam’s science,” Hiep said. 

Thuy Nga

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