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Elsevier has announced the results of its SciVal Spotlight Alternative Energy Research Leadership study that analyzes the work of 3,000 research institutions worldwide. By using a different angle to determine leadership, the study identifies the top 25 institutions (below) by recognizing researcher leaders based on output in "distinctive competencies".
Distinctive competencies (DCs) represent expertise in specific areas, revealing the degree to which institutions have constructed multidisciplinary networks within their organization focused on achieving specific breakthroughs.
By determining the institutions in terms of DCs the research offers a more accurate insight into determining the leadership in a given area as opposed to the more traditional methods.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre came out on top with 209 total papers in DCs; other top institutions of interest include Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy and Forschungszentrum Julich.
The "Research Leadership Redefined... Measuring Performance in a Multidisciplinary Landscape" webcast displayed the study's highlights, viewed by over 1,000 academic and government executives, researchers and librarians.
Jay Katzen, Managing Director Academic & Government Products at Elsevier said, "In today's uncertain economic times, it is even more critical that academic executives get the right insight to make strategic decisions on everything from funding allocations to hiring."
"There is a need to look beyond total paper counts as leaders in specific sub-topics exist within all levels of the university rankings. Examining distinctive competencies shines a light on overlooked output and unrecognized leaders," added Dick Klavans, Senior Development Advisor for Elsevier A&G.
The study also analyzes solar and photovoltaic country output based on the top 50 institutions globally.
"Although the United States is the most prolific across all of the topic groups, Germany is a formidable competitor in solar/photovoltaic," explained Kevin Boyack, Senior Development Advisor for Elsevier A&G, study analyst and webcast presenter. "Not only is Germany not far behind in terms of the number of papers in this topic group, it is ahead of the United States when it comes to the percentage of papers in distinctive competencies. What this indicates is that there is significant depth to the work being conducted in solar/photovoltaic in Germany and that the country has built a meaningful network focused on achieving breakthroughs in this area."
