“DAAD-funded publications are based on a high proportion of international collaborations”

Mr Möller, Mr Dittmann, could you first briefly and as clearly as possible explain which research question you investigated with your analysis and how you proceeded methodically?

Möller: Our research question was which publications resulted from funding by the German Academic Exchange Service, from which countries they originated, and how often they were cited. These so-called bibliometric analyses have been carried out for many years, particularly at the country and university level. However, such studies are rather rare when it comes to research funding agencies. This is mainly for methodological reasons: publications can be assigned to countries or universities relatively easily based on the authors’ addresses. However, in order to assign publications to research funding agencies, the acknowledgements contained in the publications must be analysed. This is much more time-consuming.

Dittmann: We examined more than 100 million publications from three bibliometric databases – Dimensions, Scopus and Web of Science – between 2010 and 2020 to see whether the DAAD was named as a sponsor in them. We were able to identify a total of 148 different spellings of the DAAD and found the most DAAD-funded publications in the Web of Science database. We then linked these to funding data from the DAAD in order to carry out further analyses, for example on individual funding programmes.

From your point of view, what are the most important findings of your analysis?

Möller: Our results show that DAAD-funded publications come from all over the world. A total of 169 countries are represented. Authors from Germany are involved in 82 percent of the publications. DAAD-funded publications are based on a high proportion of international collaborations, which is above the average for German and global publications. The DAAD’s international funding portfolio is thus reflected in our results. DAAD funding has a particularly strong impact in countries with less developed higher education and science systems, especially in Africa, parts of Central and South America and Asia. The proportion of DAAD-funded publications in the total output of these countries is above average, which underlines the importance of DAAD funding for scientific development in these regions.

Dittmann: We also measured the citations of DAAD-funded publications using the excellence rate. This indicator shows the proportion of the most cited publications worldwide. The excellence rate of DAAD-funded publications is above the global benchmark. Our results also show differences between the DAAD funding programmes and the group of recipients. DAAD individual funding has a higher excellence rate than DAAD funding as a whole. Programmes that are specifically aimed at funding research projects have the highest values. However, we would caution against evaluating individual funding programmes solely on the basis of their excellence rate, but rather to always take into account the programme objectives and the group of recipients. For example, the excellence rate increases with the academic degree of the recipients, from graduates to doctoral candidates to postdocs.

In your opinion, what practical recommendations arise from your analysis for the DAAD and other funding organisations that consider the publication success of their grantees to be a measure of the impact of their funding work?

Dittmann: We recommend that the DAAD and other funding organisations request their grantees to always indicate the funding context in their publications in as uniform a manner as possible. A standard text for acknowledgements provided by the research funding agencies would be helpful here. That should include the official spelling of the research funding agency in German and English as well as a unique funding identifier. This would make it easier to identify funded publications. However, it should be emphasised that although the DAAD did not issue any uniform guidelines during the period we examined, we were still able to identify a large number of DAAD-funded publications. In our view, this is mainly due to the fact that mentioning the funding background has now become academic standard practice.

Möller: Another key recommendation is that research funding agencies should supplement their existing monitoring activities with bibliometric analyses. Research funding agencies often have only incomplete information about which publications have resulted from their funding and how often these have been cited. Although the recipients report their publications during the funding period, many publications only appear after the final report has been submitted, so the funding agencies are not aware of them. Bibliometric studies, which can identify funded publications based on acknowledgement texts even years after the end of the funding period, provide a more comprehensive picture of the publication output and the reception of research results in the scientific community. Bibliometric analyses thus complement and enrich the existing monitoring practices of funding organisations.