The Philippines found itself at the bottom half in the list of Southeast Asian countries producing quality research papers, based on a recent report published by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II).
According to the committee’s findings, the country failed to attain the ASEAN average threshold as it produced only 6,870 papers based on the number of Scopus articles released for the year 2022. Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database, containing peer-reviewed research outputs.
The average number of published articles among ASEAN member states is 16,568.9 with Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand exceeding the minimum count. Vietnam managed to gain a considerable high number at 16,084 published articles, even as it fell short of the said average.
The report also noticed a huge gap between the average statistical forecast of research production at the regional level to that of the Philippines for the 2013-2049 period. A worrying trend that has to be addressed as soon as possible, so the country’s education sector can catch up in the research arena.
EDCOM II underscored the importance of these findings to empower our universities and colleges to strengthen their research capacity that would help improve the learning ‘ecosystem’ in the country.
Dr. Feorillo Demeterio III, lead researcher of the report, said that the country ‘misses the point’ in dealing with the root cause of its underperformance despite the inclusion of many higher education institutions (HEIs) in the world university rankings.
“The major reason of our HEIs’ underperformance is our deficiency in research capacity. This deficiency also translates into our underperformance in terms of economic, social, and cultural development,” he said through an email.
The Commission also took note of the research productivity of HEIs that made it to Tier 1 of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) World University Ranking data.
These are De La Salle University, the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila, UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, Mapua University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Santo Tomas, and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology.
These universities have exceeded the average of 150 articles published through Scopus set by THE-WUR.
Outside of the said ranking, the report also included second-level state universities and colleges, which have the potential to be included in the said metrics.
Across Metro Manila, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the Technological University of the Philippines lead in the average forecast between 2013-2049. Aside from them, three universities from Balance Luzon, three from Visayas, and one from Mindanao also made the cut.
To enhance the Philippines’ research productivity, the committee suggests developing a ‘bibliometric’ partnership between first-level HEIs and second-level SUCs to build ‘cooperation, joint mentoring, and autonomous research endeavors.’ – With Rolando Ng III