Key documents

Here are some key documents which have led to the establishment of a bibliometric indicator for the distribution of government funds to Sweden′s universities. Unfortunately these documents are only available in Swedish.

SOU 2007:81 Resources for quality (RUT2)

This government investigation recommends a bibliometric indicator for the competitive distribution of 5% of direct funding. It puts forward essentially the current model which includes article publication and citations in the Web of Science database and the use of Waring reference values. An appendix gives a detailed explanation of the model, which was devised by Ulf and Erik Sandström.

Proposition 2008/09:50 A boost for research and innovation

The government accepts the recommendations of RUT2 in this white paper.  It is voted into law by the Parliament in January 2009.

The use of a bibliometric indicator for the distribution of government funding

The Swedish Research Council is commissioned to collate data and calculate the bibliometric indicator for the budget year 2010. In this memo to the government, they recommend a completely different model. They dispense with the Waring reference values and introduce a model based on peer-reviewed articles per research costs - a measure of effectiveness.

The government rejects the proposal on the grounds that it differs fundamentally from the model voted on by the Parliament. The Research Council is instructed to calculate the indicator according to the original model.

Data for the calculation of the indicator for peer-reviewed production and citations for the budget year 2010

In this document the Swedish Research Council publish the results of the bibliometric indicator for the budget year 2010.