Vietnam’s professors - Get up and do something
23:58' 11/02/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – When evaluating the intellectual standards of a nation, the number of scientific articles published in international academic journals and respected magazines are considered the top indicator.

Research published in academic journals must go through a strict and rigorous consideration process. The number of published research projects is the number-one standard for promoting professorships at universities and it reflects the scientific productivity of a country.

Research and related publications are usually conducted by post-graduates studying and researching towards earnings Masters or Doctorate level degrees. According to the Vietnam Science and Technology book, by the end of 2003, Vietnam had 2 million college and university graduates, including 14,000 doctors and 20,000 Masters Degree holders; it also had around 6,000 Associate and full-fledged Professors.

The question is how does Vietnam’s scientific productivity rate against other regional countries. To answer this question, we can refer to data provided by the Institute of Scientific Information and Scientific Publications of Vietnam.

Actions speak louder than words – complete silence

Between 1996 and 2005, Vietnamese scientists published 3,456 research projects and results in international scientific magazines. On average, each Associate Professor and Professor of Vietnam published 0.58 scientific articles in 10 years!

In other words, every two professors released just over one article in a decade. Meanwhile, universities in regional countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore set standards or encouraged each professor to have at least one article published in an international scientific magazine every two years. In developed countries, Professors must publish at least one article every two years, otherwise they may lose their job.

Vietnam’s results are modest at best and the lowest in the region. The number of scientific articles published by Vietnamese researchers is equivalent to one fifth that of Thailand (14,494 articles from 1996-2005), one third of Malaysia (9,742), one fourth of Singapore (45,633) and lower than Indonesia and the Phillipines (4,389 and 3,901, respectively).

How about Vietnam’s stronger and weaker research fields? Around one fifth of scientific research is related to biology, compared to 43% in Thailand. Specifically weak fields are the environment (4%), economics (2.5%), biotechnology (1.3%) and humanities-social sciences (1.6%).

The number of scientific publications associated with math and physics makes up nearly one fourth of the total number of published articles, compared to just 0.5-4% in neighboring countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

While Vietnamese scientists lack facilities, around 80% of scientific research in Vietnam is conducted in cooperation with foreigners. Only 20% is entirely performed and run by Vietnamese scientists.

However, that ratio is different for different fields, for example only 3% of medicine-biology research is completely implemented by Vietnamese scientists, none of biotechnology, and up to 66% of math, nearly 40% of technology, and 41% of economics.

Quality of scientific research is also questionable. Valuable research is often cited by international scientists who thereby appraise the validity and importance, it is necessary to look at the citing percentage.

Generally, around one fifth of scientific articles from Vietnam have never been quoted on after five years of publication. This is the same situation in Vietnam’s neighboring countries like Thailand (15%), Malaysia (19%), Indonesia (19%), the Philippines (19%) and Singapore (17%).

Analysis shows that locally-conducted research is usually of lower quality than international research. On average, each locally-conducted research publication is cited 3.2 times while it is 11.6 times for international publications.

Call for Reform

The above data points out that Vietnam’s scientific “output” is very modest compared to regional nations, and completely incomparable to the rest of the world.

Vietnam’s scientific research primarily focuses on theoretical fields, for example math and physics, and Vietnam is weak at researching the application of science and specifically, environmental sciences. Meanwhile, as part of its economic development process, Vietnam needs applicable research rather than theoretical.

Additionally, domestic scientific research largely depends on international assistance. International cooperation significantly helps modern scientific achievements but it is better for cooperation if scientific research is conducted with a majority of Vietnamese materials and funding and the results of which will thereby belong to the Vietnamese people.

It is a fact that many Vietnamese scientists take part in research projects with foreign partners, and the results at attributed to the foreign associates.

Vietnam’s investment in sci-tech is very small compared to neighboring countries. In 2006, the country invested $428 million into science and technology, accounting for around 0.17% of GDP.

According to UNESCO, in Southeast Asia, Singapore has the highest investment in science and technology with 2.2% of GDP, equivalent to $30.1 billion, followed by Malaysia 0.5% of GDP or $1.54 billion, Thailand 0.3% of GDP or $1.79 billion. If based on GDP, Vietnam’s investment in science and technology is higher than Indonesia (0.05%) and Philippines (0.12%).

It is absurd that while many research projects lack capital, the State budget for sci-tech activities is not fully utilized. Budget management and distribution in sci-tech activities is now a problem.

It is necessary to consider the number of scientific research projects announced in international scientific magazines as a key standard in promoting professorship. Vietnam still uses local standards to promote professorship. Most Vietnamese doctors don’t have and may never have articles posted in reputable international scientific journals.

According to statistics, up to 70% of doctors in Vietnam don’t do research but assume administrative and management posts. Consequently, though Vietnam has up to 14,000 doctors and 6,000 professors, its scientific productivity doesn’t even compare to neighboring countries, let alone the rest of the world.

It is said that scientific research in Vietnam is lagging behind economic development. To deal with this, the State needs to reform the scientific management system immediately, or suffer the consequences.