This report describes the state of, and developments in, Finnish scientific research in the period 2000–2010. The report was produced with reference to publication and citation data in the Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science (WoS) and Elsevier’s Scopus databases. An appendix also contains a comparison of the data.

The WoS and Scopus databases mainly give a similar impression of developments in Finnish science. The number of Finnish publications rose by a quarter in the last decade. Over the three-year period 2008–2010, the number of publications according to WoS was 29,000, and, according to Scopus, around 30,000. These are publications that include at least one author representing a Finnish research organisation (non-fractionalised figures). If co-publications are fractionalised according to the number of the countries of the writers contributing to them, Finnish writers account for 20,500 and 21,600 of all publications respectively (fractionalised figures). The fact that the number of non-fractionalised publications has grown faster than the number of fractionalised ones shows how Finnish publications are increasingly appearing as a result of international cooperation in research.

Despite the increase in the number of publications, Finland’s contribution to global scientific publications has declined. According to the WoS data, it accounted for 0.71% in the period 2000–2002, but between 2008 and 2010 it was just 0.57%. The corresponding figures from Scopus are 0.69% and 0.53%. This decline is partly due to the rapid growth in the number of global publications, especially since China and India are now a greater presence in the market for scientific publications than before.

According to WoS, Finland’s citation and the Top10 index have started to rise again, having shown a downward trend in the early 2000s. The citation index calculated with reference to Scopus data, meanwhile, is rising moderately, though steadily, and the Top10 index indicates a rise in the mid-2000s. The citation index is a reflection of the international impact of research. The Top10 index, for its part, indicates whether the research conducted by an examined unit (country, university, research institute) achieves a share among the total number of publications of the 10% that are cited most. Both indicators in this report are so structured that an examined unit is well placed in an international comparison if the indicator attains a value that is greater than 1. The upward trend in indicator values would suggest that Finnish science is moving in a positive direction, but that is at least partly influenced by structural changes in progress in global data, the most significant of which are the increase in contributions from China and India and the decrease in those made by the United States.

The greatest changes to publication numbers, if examined for each main scientific discipline, are the smaller contribution on the part of medical and health sciences and the greater one made by the social sciences. The citation indices for disciplines have reflected the general trend in the citation index. The agricultural and forestry sciences and medical and health sciences are faring the best. The impact of biological and environmental sciences, natural sciences and engineering and technology also exceeds the world average. The citation index for social sciences is below the world average.

Viewed from the perspective of research organisation type, it is universities that produce the majority of publications. They accounted for two-thirds (WoS)/three-fifths (Scopus) of all Finnish fractionalised publications. Publications by state research institutes and university hospitals both account for a good tenth of the total number of publications. Other more notable organisations that publish include hospital districts and companies. Universities of applied sciences, however, account for less than 1% of all publications. By the end of the decade, all the research organisation types apart from companies had a citation index above the world average

The highest values on the citation index for individual research organisations that are biggest in terms of number of publications were obtained by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio University Hospital and the University of Helsinki.

In a comparison of OECD countries Finland’s position had declined, although both its citation index and Top10 index positions were slightly stronger in the period 2008-2010 than they had been in the early part of the decade. At the start of the 2000s, Finland was in 8th position on the WoS citation index and 9th on the Top10 index. The corresponding positions in the most recent period were 13 and 14. The Scopus data showed Finland’s position as 9th place on both indices at the start of the 2000s and 13 and 12 on the citation index and Top10 index respectively in the most recent period.

Almost half of the Finnish publications in the period 2008-2010 were produced in collaboration with foreign research organisations. The share of international co-publications grew in the 2000s in all scientific disciplines. Collaboration has a particularly important role to play in the natural and medical sciences. The share of international co-publications in the humanities is significantly lower than with other disciplines.

From the perspective of the main scientific disciplines of Finnish research organisations, the indication is that the University of Helsinki is the leader in all disciplines as regards numbers of publications, with the exception of engineering and technology and natural sciences. It is Aalto University that produces the greatest number of publications in the field of technology. According to WoS, Aalto University also produces almost as many publications on natural sciences as the University of Helsinki, and even more, according to Scopus. In the area of medical and health sciences, the University of Helsinki shares the leading position with the Helsinki University Central Hospital.

According to the WoS data, the highest values on the citation index for the impact made by research were received by the University of Helsinki together with Aalto University and the University of Jyväskylä in natural sciences. The highest citation index value for biological and environmental sciences was obtained by the National Institute for Health and Welfare. In engineering and technology, Åbo Akademi University, Aalto University and the University of Oulu were in first place. On the citation index for medical and health sciences, the highest values were obtained by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of Oulu, Turku University Hospital, the University of Eastern Finland and Helsinki University Central Hospital. MTT Agrifood Research Finland held first position in agricultural and forestry sciences, and Aalto University and the University of Turku in social sciences.

The Scopus citation index gives first place in natural sciences and biological and environmental sciences to the University of Helsinki, in engineering and technology to Åbo Akademi University and Aalto University, in medical and health sciences to the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the University of Eastern Finland, and in social sciences to the University of Turku, the University of Jyväskylä and Aalto University.