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Collaboration with the region
It is our and KI’s priority to ensure uninterrupted collaboration with all hospitals in Region Stockholm. The KI management holds regular meetings with the director of Karolinska University Hospital and a continual dialogue is underway between the hospital, Region Stockholm and KI on several levels. Currently, these discussions are mainly about how we can go about maintaining effective clinical placement and research collaborations under the strained circumstances in which the region finds itself. Our demand is that the ALF agreement is respected and that no political decisions on changes to the region’s healthcare organisation are made without a consequence analysis for medical education and research. Blog post: Allvarligt läge för Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset (in Swedish only)
Comments on research bill
The most important concern now is to secure more resources for independent research to increase the chances of making scientific breakthroughs. The system for the financing of research infrastructure must also be strengthened so that universities, university colleges and companies can present a united front to global societal challenges and develop future competence in industry and society.
The increased appropriations for the higher education institutions are far from sufficient to allow them to self-finance the major infrastructure investments that are needed. With an under-funded research infrastructure, there is a danger that existing resources will not be optimally used or that resources will not be available for future needs. This could eventually damage the high international status that Swedish research currently enjoys and undermine Sweden as a leading knowledge nation.
The Swedish Research Council’s (VR’s) resources for national investment have shrunk due to the weakened krona and the international investments already embarked upon. This can be seriously detrimental too, something that we have clearly explained in our comments to the government’s research bill. Blog post: Forskningspropositionen 2020: lagar och regler måste följa utvecklingen, Särskilda satsningsområden som borde lyftas i forskningspropostionen, För en levande och aktiv debatt om svensk forskningspolitik (all in Swedish only)
New agreement with Elsevier
After much drawn-out negotiation, an agreement is again in place between the Bibsam consortium and the scientific publisher’s Elsevier. According to a Swedish press release from both parties, the agreement will come into immediate effect, giving researchers from Sweden access to Elsevier’s 2,000-plus scientific journals. It also means that all Swedish scientific papers can be published directly with open access.
This is very welcome news and a great stride towards making research more accessible. Blog post: New agreement with Elsevier
KI climbs in the international rankings
In light of the tough and mounting international competition between the world’s universities, it is especially gratifying to receive acknowledgement that KI has a very high standing globally, and is even rising. In the latest ARWU ranking (2019) Karolinska Institutet occupies 38th place amongst all universities (regardless of specialisation) in the world, and 10th place in Europe. This is the best position KI has had since this ranking began.
In the ARWU’s subject categories “Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences”, “Public Health” and “Nursing”, KI is rated amongst the top six in the world. In “Clinical Medicine” KI ranks at 21st in the world and 6th in Europe, and in “Biological Sciences” KI is 15th in the world and 3rd in Europe. ARWU website
In the Times Higher Education rankings, KI is also rising in all the relevant subjects: Life science, Psychology and Clinical and pre-clinical & health. Similarly, KI is improving its standings in the newly publicised ranking from US News in the fields of Social science/Public health and Psychology.
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