JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Vietnam's 2045 development plan requires thorough reforms in science and technology (S&T), which underlines the role of research-oriented universities in generating and transforming knowledge. Understanding the current research performance and productivity is important to exploit future agendas.

Objective:

This paper aimed to explore the growth patterns and collaborations in the scientific publication of Vietnam.

Methods:

Data on documents in the Web of Science Core Collection database were searched and extracted to examine the research performance of Vietnam. Publication growth patterns in both quantity and quality were examined. The evolution of research disciplines and collaboration networks were also analyzed.

Results:

A total of 62,752 documents in 8,354 different sources from 1966 to 2020 were found. Results indicated a substantial growth in the Vietnamese scientific outputs during this period, which was mainly research with international collaboration. There was the emergence of multidisciplinary research-oriented universities in both public and private sectors, along with a significant increase in the number of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary publications. Although the quality has improved, these publications are still of mostly medium quality when concentrated in middle-ranking journals.

Conclusions:

Our study highlighted the notable growth of research performance in terms of both quality and quantity in Vietnam from 1966 to 2020. Building a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research agenda, developing networks of local and international researchers for addressing specific local issues, improving participation of private sectors, and S&T mechanisms are critical for boosting research productivity in Vietnam.