University-Industry Research Cooperation Scoreboard 2011

Introducing UIRC 2011

UIRC 2011 provides an internationally comparative framework based on a statistical data derived from university-industry research cooperation activities. The scoreboard’s general set-up is identical to its 2009-2010 predecessor (the offline version of which is still available upon request). The 2011 edition is the first to present separate scoreboards for universities worldwide and those in Europe. UIRC’s units of analysis are University-Industry Co-publications (UICs), as identified within the international peer-reviewed research literature indexed by Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science (WoS) database. Each UIC is a jointly authored research publication with author affiliate addresses referring to least one university and one private sector organization. UICs represent (successful) research cooperation, or associated research related interactions, between universities and private sector organizations. These organizations are usually business companies operating within manufacturing industries, but also services industries or for-profit contract research organizations.


UIC indicators

The quantities of WoS-indexed UICs produced by a university define the underlying metrics of the scoreboard. Part 1 of scoreboard contains UIC ratings for the world’s top 500 largest research-active universities. These 500 were determined according to the size of their internationally visible research output in terms of their WoS-indexed publication output during the time-period 2006-2008. This set spans a wide range of countries and many different types of research universities. Part 2 includes Europe’s 300 largest research universities. UIRC 2011 includes two types of UIC-specific research activity indicators:
UIC Volume - absolute number of UICs and reflecting the total UIRC activity;
UIC Intensity - share of UICs within each university’s total publication output.

The series of UIC intensity scores include an overall score computed across all fields of science, supplemented by a breakdown into separate scores for five broad fields. These seven measures, corresponding with the data columns in the UIRC data table, are:
1. UIC volume – all fields of science;
2. UIC intensity – all fields of science;
3. UIC intensity – Natural sciences;
4. UIC intensity – Engineering sciences;
5. UIC intensity – Life sciences;
6. UIC intensity – Medical sciences;
7. UIC intensity – Social sciences and Humanities.

This scoreboard is primarily designed for exploratory international benchmarking and strategic aggregate-level analysis of university research performance. The scores of each university on each indicator are therefore presented in terms of aggregated (rank) ranges, which highlight the approximate volume or intensity rather than offering precise measures per university. The array of UIC scores for each university provide a good indication of their comparative performance but are less suitable for ranking purposes or detailed analysis.

The 2011 Scoreboard is online available in two Excel-tables:
europe_top_300_20111107.xls and
world_top_500_20111107.xls

Further information on the UIRC 2011 methodology and its novel features are further described in the accompanying technical notes.

Background information

An application of UICR was published in: Tijssen, R.J.W., T.N van Leeuwen, and E. van Wijk, Benchmarking university-industry research cooperation worldwide: performance measurements and indicators based on co-authorship data for the world’s largest universities.

More information & contact

For technical questions, general comments, or for information on customized UIRC-based information products, please contact:
Prof. Dr. Robert Tijssen
Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS)
Leiden University
The Netherlands
T: +31 71 5273960
F: +31 71 5273911
E: tijssen – at - cwts.leidenuniv.nl
URL:

Acknowledgement

Work on UICR 2011 scoreboard is supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through the grant for the CHERPA research programme.

Web editor CWTS
Last Modified: 08-11-2011