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Finnish academic research has 'lost momentum' according to the Academy of Finland, with Finnish research being cited far less than in other Nordic countries.
 'There are worrying signs' about the future of Finnish science, the academy on claimed yesterday, using the word 'science' to mean all academic research. "There is growing concern about the scarcity of foreign funding for research and development,' the academy said.
"It is pointed out that both the number of foreign visits by researchers and the number of scientific articles published have been on the decline. Most significantly, citation statistics, a key measure of scientific impact and quality, are falling."
The Academy suggested a number of possible explanations for the decline, which comes despite a rise in funding for Finnish science. 'Universities engage disproportionately in applied research and development at the expense of (theoretical) research,' the academy claimed. 'In recent years, the government’s principal policy documents have focused heavily on technological and economic issues and largely ignored scientific research.'
'Other possible factors may include the high proportion of doctoral students among research personnel, the erosion of the scientific infrastructure, the low level of international engagement in science and research, and shortcomings in research funding principles and in scientific leadership.'
The academy said that when looking at citation figures the quality of Finnish science came last in the Nordic region "by a wide margin".
Most research is published in specialised academic journals and books. How often other journal articles refer to the research is seen as a measure of how influential it is. According to Thompson-Reuters research, Danish academic research has an impact factor of 1.20, Swedish of 1.10, Norwegian of 1.05 while Finnish research is down at 1.00.
In an interview with 65DN, one of the academy's media relations officers elaborated on the report.
'Doctoral students do a lot of the research and they often publish in Finnish or in journals in Finland,' she explained. Fewer people, therefore, read the research than they otherwise might. Nevertheless, when deciding grant applications the academy does not look more favourably on work to be published in English even if the work is purely international rather than Finnish in scope.
Finnish universities have been conducting more 'practical' research, funded by companies for example, because 'that is where the money is. Who knows how this will work in the future,' she added.
Finnish universities will be reformed next year and encouraged to find funding from sources other than the state, including the business world.
The report also described Finnish universities as 'disjointed' and highlighted a lack of foreign interest in Finnish academia. Currently, about three percent of academics working in Finland are foreign. In Sweden it is ten percent.
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