Abstract
(English)
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Although recent empirical studies offer evidence that traditional comparative advantages
and strengths of Switzerland‘s research system are indeed more and more challenged by
an increasingly competitive environment at the international level, the country’s overall
performance by generally accepted international standards is (still) indicative of a highly
developed research landscape. Switzerland accounted for 1,2% of the worldwide scientific
production in 1994-1999 as far as publications in ISI-covered international journals
are concerned. With this it ranks 12th amongst all countries and belongs to a group of
middle-sized scientific nations (together with the Netherlands, Australia, Spain and Sweden).
These countries are behind the large-sized G7-countries but still in front of all other
OECD-nations, each of them accounting for less than 1% of the worldwide scientific publishing activity.
Findings further indicate that Switzerland ranks 2nd not only when measured
by papers per inhabitant (behind Sweden), but also as far as the scientific impact of
its articles measured by their average relative citation index is concerned (behind USA).
For scientists working at the international research fronts, scientific recognition and excellence
has always been of crucial importance. However, the challenge of increasing international
scientific competition has also to be faced at the institutional level. As a matter of
fact, achieving and maintaining scientific competitiveness has also become a strategic
goal of many research institutions. In Switzerland, some 25 institutions alone are accounting
for about 90% of this country’s publishing activity. Of these institutional main producers
of scientific papers, 9 are research-oriented universities5 accounting together for almost
70% of the Swiss articles covered by ISI-databases.
As Burton R. CLARK and others have argued, the term “research university” is now an
appropriate label for the leading universities in most developed countries. In any disciplinary
area and scientific field, academic staff at research universities is expected to produce
knowledge, use the most recent research results in their teaching, and train students
to conduct research.
Cross-country comparisons and the elaboration of average indicators of research performance
are appropriate tools for a general assessment of the position of a nation’s research
system, especially if monitored over time. But if we want to know more on the
competitiveness of the research system of Switzerland and its driving forces, the research
institutions, more pertinent tools than indicators of general national performance are
needed.
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