New report finds untapped research potential in South and East Asia

LONDON, Oct. 2 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute for Scientific Information at the Web of Science Group, a Clarivate Analytics company, today releases a new Global Research Report that reveals the untapped potential of the research base in South and East Asia.

The report examines the research output of 14 countries* in S&E Asia, their levels of international collaboration, and research Impact Profiles using data from Web of Science. It finds that – in terms of relative quantity and quality - research in the region still lags significantly behind its European and more established Asian neighbors (for example China, Japan and South Korea) and the authors make key recommendations for how S&E Asian countries might improve their national research performance.

Jonathan Adams, Director of the Institute for Scientific Information, says: "South and East Asian countries have deep roots in learning, culture and technology over millennia – Singapore has been recognized for 200 years as a crossroads for ideas in between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. But the data show that the untapped potential of the region is massive and, if the right actions are taken, this could underpin an impressive research network with global impact."

The report recommends three actions to address the gap between economic development and research performance:

• Investing in people. The relative number of researchers in the workforce is still very small for many South and East Asian countries, and that must be linked to funding and development for higher education
• Freeing universities to pursue their own programs of thought and innovation
• Devoting resources to research. The region has enormous resources, and the potential for innovation and achievement is vast. S&E Asian nations cannot afford to underinvest in scientific and technology education and research, if only to keep pace with other nations expanding their research economies.

The report also finds that, for S&E Asia nations other than Singapore, impact gained through international collaborations is very substantial and it is this activity that lifts their average research impact above world average. For some of the S&E Asia region, it is evident that many recent research achievements have been dependent on international links. Now, these countries are in an increasingly strong position to benefit from their own potential to grow through their national investments, through the emergence of a regional network, and through collaborations with neighboring countries. India is described in the report as a 'sleeping giant' of research, with a lower collaboration rate than most.

It should be noted that this report is one of only a few in-depth bibliometric studies of national activity and performance across S&E Asia. Most analyses published over the last decade have focused on the ASEAN members as a group or on individual ASEAN members in specific research areas.

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Notes to editors 

*The 14 countries included in this report are: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh plus the ASEAN states; Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philippines.

For more information you can download the report here

Media Contact  
Amy Bourke-Waite 
Director of External Communications 
amy.bourkewaite@clarivate.com  

About Web of Science Group 

Web of Science Group organizes the world's research information to enable academia, corporations, publishers and governments to accelerate the pace of research.  It is powered by the Web of Science – the world's largest publisher-neutral citation index and research intelligence platform. Its many well-known brands also include Converis, EndNote, Kopernio, Publons, ScholarOne and the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).  The 'university' of Web of Science Group, ISI maintains the knowledge corpus upon which the index and related information and analytical content and services are built; it disseminates that knowledge externally through events, conferences and publications and it carries out research to sustain, extend and improve the knowledge base. The Web of Science Group is a Clarivate Analytics company.  www.webofsciencegroup.com. @webofscience 

About Clarivate Analytics  

Clarivate Analytics plc (NYSE:CCC; CCC.WS) is a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. We have built some of the most trusted brands across the innovation lifecycle, including Web of Science™, Cortellis™, Derwent™, CompuMark™, MarkMonitor™ and Techstreet™. Today, Clarivate Analytics™ is on a bold entrepreneurial mission to help customers reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing innovations. For more information, please visit www.clarivate.com. 

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