You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Academic publisher Elsevier has launched a free online resource to provide concrete data on the impact of Brexit on the research world.
The Brexit Resource Centre, as Elsevier is calling it, is aimed at helping to inform researchers, institutions, funders and government decision-makers both inside and outside the UK.
The resource is currently offering a pre-referendum baseline overview of key UK research data, such as the quality and quantity of published articles over time, the extent of international collaboration, the levels of funding income from UK and EU sources, and the mobility of researcher internationally. It will be updated over time, with new data added to observe the effect of Brexit on the metrics.
Concerns have been expressed on the effect of Brexit on research funds and international collaboration, with some researchers claiming they are already being dropped from EU funded projects.
Nick Fowler, managing director of research networks at Elsevier, said: “As the UK transitions out of the EU, it’s important that decisions affecting the success of the UK’s research sector are evidence-based. We are making data available to help academia and government track key success factors such as collaboration and researcher mobility, which contribute to the UK’s scientific excellence. We also hope that this free resource centre will be valuable to key decision-makers outside of the UK.”
Data currently on the site shows that between 2011 and 2015 the UK's research workforce grew by 2.8% year-on-year, while the UK's research funding coming from the UK grew at an annual rate of 3.6%, and funding for UK research from the EU grew at an annual rate of 13%. The US, Germany, France and Italy were the countries who collaborated the most with the UK on research outputs.
The site will also analyse researchers' social media discussions of the post-referendum state of play, plus free access to published research articles on the issue.