NWO and KNAW institutes: scientific publication output and citation impact (WoS)

Output

Data publication

How many scientific publications are published by NWO and KNAW institutes? And what is the citation impact score of these publications? In this data publication we share the figures.

In short

  • The number of scientific publications by NWO institutes has increased until 2016, then varies between 1.300 and 1.400 per year..
  • After 2020, the number of scientific publications by KNAW institutes decreases.
  • The citation impact score of the KNAW institutes has increased, that of the NWO institutes has decreased.

How many scientific publications will be published by NWO and KNAW institutes between 2011 and 2023?

Source: Clarivate Analytics/ WoS database, extraction by Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) and analysis by Rathenau Instituut.
Notes: The absolute numbers of scientific publications and reviews. After 2016, the Netherlands Heart Institute leaves the KNAW. Publications from his institute are no longer included KNAW-figures from 2017 onwards, causing a break in the trend. 

Analysis
The number of scientific publications produced by the KNAW and NWO institutes show a positive trend, but since 2020 the number of publication produced by the KNAW institutes is declining. The decrease we see in 2017 is caused largely by the fact that one of the KNAW-institutes, the Netherlands Heart Institute, leaves the KNAW to continue on its own. Its publications are excluded from this analysis from 2017 onwards. 
 

Citation impact for NWO and KNAW institutes

Source: Clarivate Analytics/ WoS database, extraction CWTS and analysis by Rathenau Instituut.
Notes: Field normalised citation impact score (world-wide average = 1,0): the number of citations that publications received relative to the world-wide average of citations received, per scientific field (world-wide average = 1,0). After 2016, the Netherlands Heart Institute leaves the KNAW. The citation-impact scores of their publications are no longer included in KNAW-figures for the periods 2015-2018 and 2019-2022, causing a break in the trend.

Analysis
Both the publications of the KNAW institutes and those of the NWO institutes show a relatively high citation impact scores. At the KNAW institutes we see an upward trend in the citation impact. In the period 2019-2022, the citation impact score for the KNAW institutes is well above the average (area-standardised citation impact 2019-2022 is 1.88, the global average is 1.0). We see a decrease in the citation impact of the NWO institutes, but it is still above the global average (area standardized citation impact 2019-2022 is 1.22, the global average is 1.0). The citation impact for the period 2019-2022 is just below the Dutch average (1.28).

Facts and figures

  • 1.28

    Average citation-impactscore Netherlands (2019-2022)

  • 1.88

    Citation-impactscore KNAW- institutes (2019-2022)

  • 1.22

    Citation-impactscore NWO-institutes (2019-2022)

For an explanation of the used definitions and abbreviations we refer to the webpage Definitions for Science in Figures.

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