Assessing Research Productivity in University Environment: Institutional Approach

Abstract

There is an ongoing discussion among experts concerning the result of university activities. One point of view is that universities should be considered as places of research and measured by their contribution to science. The aim of research is to formulate a methodological approach to assess scholarship and research productivity in universities based on the assumption that the growth transaction costs define higher education institution knowledge generation. The authors present a proposal of a new ratio, called the Knowledge Generation Efficacy Ratio (KGER), which assesses the research productivity in universities. To test this ratio, an empirical survey was carried out based on data collected from four different universities in Russia. The results of this study contribute to the development of scholarly and research productivity method. The KGER can be used as a tool for making decisions concerning the different research activities taking place in the university, the level of funding and return on investment.