In April 2017, the UArctic Science & Research Analytics Task Force, in partnership with the data company ÜberResearch, released International Arctic Research: Analyzing Global Funding Trends. A Pilot Report (2017 Update), a report looking at trends in the global funding of Arctic research.
This update to the initial 2016 report uses the Dimensions grants database, which contains information on over 250 funders, to create a comprehensive view of global Arctic research funding across nations, institutions and subject areas. Some of the key findings include:
- Arctic research is just under 1% of all funded research in the database, and the proportion of funding targeted at Arctic research has not changed in the past decade
- “Earth Sciences” largest proportion of Arctic research funding, due to ‘oceanography’
- The U.S. is the largest Arctic research nation in terms of both dollars and number of projects
- Approximately 35% of global Arctic research funding in the database goes to UArctic member institutions
- About 0.5% of the total research funding spent in Arctic Council Observer states goes to Arctic research, as compared to 7% of funding on average for Arctic research in Arctic Council member states.
The report can be downloaded free of charge at this site: https://figshare.com/articles/International_Arctic_Research_Analyzing_Global_Funding_Trends_A_Pilot_Report_2017_Update_/4829455
The global funding trends report is part of a larger effort to quantify Arctic research, both in terms of productivity and funding. The Task Force released an earlier analysis of research funding plus three other reports on Arctic research in fall 2016, all of which can be accessed here: http://research.uarctic.org/research-area/research-analytics-task-force/publications/. Now, UArctic is looking to grow this work, by creating the UArctic Institute of Research Analytics. The new Institute will continue this work, with a goal of developing a common and ongoing approach to documenting and assessing Arctic research globally.
In addition, UArctic is working with Google Scholar to create a self-defined roster of Arctic researchers, to make sure that the work of Arctic scholars across all disciplines are included in these analyses. If you haven’t already, we encourage all Arctic researchers, across the Humanities, Arts, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences to add yourself to this critical database. More information on how to do this is here: http://research.uarctic.org/research-area/research-analytics-task-force/connect-yourself-to-the-arctic-research-community/