UNAM sets target of 1000 SCOPUS articles per year by 2030
The University of Namibia is the top ranked university in Namibia and part of the top 100 in Africa according to various 2021 university ranking systems such as Times Higher Education Index, Unirank, Scimago and Nature Index.
Professor Anicia Peters, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Development said university rankings are becoming increasingly important for the reflection of the university’s national, regional and international standing and competitiveness and are unbiased and independent.
“Research is a leading measurement in the University’s ranking system and UNAM strives to be part of the top 10 universities in Africa and top 500 globally by consistently publishing 1000 peer-reviewed SCOPUS listed articles per year by the year 2030,” she explained.
In 2019, UNAM had a total of 208 publications in SCOPUS which increased to 295 in 2020 and a target of 400 has been set for 2021. “This target will increase annually and UNAM is on its way to achieve its vision and to be a sustainable international hub of excellence in higher education, training, research and innovation by 2030,” she added.
John Haufiku, Public Relations Officer at UNAM said these rankings published a month ago are a key indicator of UNAM’s significant contributions towards the development of knowledge and society through conducting quality research with societal impact and it also indicates the tally of academic research published in indexed journals.
The 2021 Nature Index shows UNAM as number one in Namibia and 84th in Africa, out of 290 universities. UniRank an international higher education ranking directory and search engine ranked UNAM as the top university in Namibia and 24th in Africa.
According to Scimago Institutions Ranking (SIR), UNAM is ranked first in Namibia and 74th in Africa and 784th in global ranking, while they ranked the Namibia University of Science and Technology in 863rd globally and 120th in Africa and the International University of Management was unranked.
SIR is based on weighted performance in a combination of indicators that include research performance, 50%, innovation outputs 30% and societal impact as measured by web visibility from the institution’s website and mentions from social networks, 20%.
“On the ranking system, UNAM is well ahead of similarly sized universities in Southern Africa such as the University of Mauritius, University of Botswana, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology,” added Haufiku.
He further said that the SIR rankings are an attestation to UNAM’s position as a leading institution, despite the 2020 knock from the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively impacted the university’s overall standing in Africa and globally.
UNAM is the only Namibian university that is listed in the Times Higher Education Index (THE) and is captured under reporter status, which makes UNAM a member of an exclusive club of 10% of the world’s universities.
