A report analyzes funding and scientific production in the State Research Plan in Spain

Spanish universities receive two thirds of the State Research Plan’s total funding and projects and are the only institutions that produce scientific publications in percentages above the resources they receive. This is one of the conclusions of a report analysing the “Generation of Knowledge” and “Societal Challenges” calls of the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation between 2013 and 2020, carried out by INAECU, a research institute in which the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) participate.

Specifically, Spanish universities obtain 74% of the projects and 61% of the funding in these State Plan calls, followed by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (15% and 21%, respectively) and research centres of autonomous communities (6% and 9%, respectively). 

By autonomous communities, Madrid and Catalonia lead with the most total funding obtained (26% and 24.2%, respectively), followed by Andalusia (13.6%) and the Valencian Community (9.7%) with notably lower percentages.

The vast majority of funding is received by the “Life Sciences” (48%) and “Mathematical Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering” (41%) areas, while “Social Sciences and Humanities” projects only receive 11% of resources. However, the situation is different when it comes to obtaining projects: “Mathematical Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering” is the area that obtains the greatest number of projects (38%), ahead of “Life Sciences” (33%) and “Social Sciences and Humanities” (29%).

Scientific production

This report has studied data from the 22,964 projects that have received funding in the calls analysed, 80% of which have published scientific publications (105,559 papers between 2013 and 2017) in the three indexes of the main collection of Web of Science and ESCI. In this sense, universities are the institutions that produce a greater number of scientific publications (77% of the total), ahead of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, in its Spanish acronym) (17%) and the research centres of autonomous communities (7%), among others.

By autonomous communities, Catalonia leads the number of scientific publications (with 23.55% of the total), followed by Madrid (22.95%), Andalusia (15.17%), Valencia (12.34%), the Basque Country (5.58%) and Galicia (4.78%).

By areas of knowledge, most scientific publications are published in “Mathematical Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering” (60%), followed by “Life Sciences” (29%) and “Social Sciences and Humanities” (11%).

By individual institutions, the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) are the ones with the most funding and the greatest number of projects. The centres with the highest fundraising per permanent lecturer and doctor are the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). On the other hand, the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the UCM present the best indicators of international visibility, with a higher percentage of publications in international collaboration.

Bibliographic reference: Garesse Alarcón, R. Sanz Casado, E. Sastrón Toledo, P.  Evaluation of the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2013-2020. XXVIII Spanish Universities Research Meeting. November 2022. University of Valencia.