Performance-based Funding Systems Research Articles

Funding and Publication Performance in Higher Education

Universities play a vital role in transmission and generation of new discoveries and knowledge. In this paper, we study how research input and research output are related in these institutions. We focus on two types of research input: research funding and human resources, and employ various forms of publication to measure research output, namely books, book chapters, journal articles and conference papers. More importantly, we examine the recent trend of switching to a performance-based funding system by both developed and developing countries alike to support university research. We study these issues by exploring research activities carried out by Australian universities from 1992 to 2010. Australia first adopted a performance-based funding system in 1995 and further strengthened it in 2002. We find that research funding plays an important role in generating research output, particularly journal articles. On average, a one percent increase in the total research income brought about a 0.1074 percent increase in a measure of the total research publication and led to a 0.1753 percent increase in journal article publication. Among various sources of research income, competitive grants promoted all forms of publication while research income secured from industries and private sources posed a drag to research publication. Such effects were more visible in well-established, elite universities than those with a shorter history. On the other hand, the effects of human resources were stronger on these new, small and regional universities than on their elite counterparts. Exploring more closely, we find that academic staff was a key factor in journal article publication and its impact was more pronounced on the new, small and regional universities. Lastly, the adoption of a performance-based funding system appeared to boost research output.

Performance-based funding and university research productivity: the moderating effect of university legitimacy

The introduction of competitive funding mechanisms in higher education is found to generally increase research productivity. However, the diversity within higher education systems may lead universities to behave in substantially different ways in response to the adoption of competitive funding criteria. In particular, we argue that the legitimacy of universities, defined as their level of recognition based on the adherence to socially accepted norms and expectations, is crucial in shaping their reaction. This paper investigates the change in research productivity experienced by Italian universities following the introduction of the first Performance-based Research Funding System (PRFS) in 2003, focusing on the moderating effect of university legitimacy. Using a sample of 75 universities observed during the period 1999–2011, we find that the introduction of PRFS leads to an increase in research productivity, and this increase is significantly more pronounced among more legitimate universities.

Why is it so difficult for the Global Fund to show value for money?

Why is it so difficult for the Global Fund to show value for money?

Performance-based financing at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: an analysis of grant ratings and funding, 2003-12.

Performance-based financing can be used by global health funding agencies to improve programme performance and thus value for money. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was one of the first global-health funders to deploy a performance-based financing system. However, its complex, multistep system for calculating and paying on grant ratings has several components that are subjective and discretionary. We aimed to test the association between grant ratings and disbursements, an indication of the extent to which incentives for performance are transmitted to grant recipients. We obtained publicly available data for 508 Global Fund grants from 2003 to 2012 with performance ratings and corresponding disbursements, merged with other datasets that contained data for relevant country characteristics. We used regression analysis to identify predictors of grant disbursements in phase 2 (typically the latter 3 of 5 years of a grant), using two dependent variables: whether a grant had any phase-2 disbursements, and the phase-2 disbursement amount. In a separate analysis, we also investigated the predictors of grant performance ratings. Grant performance rating in phase 1 was positively associated with having any disbursements in phase 2, but no association was seen between phase-1 ratings and phase-2 disbursement amounts. Furthermore, performance ratings are not replicable by external observers, both because subjective and discretionary decisions are made in the generation of performance measures and because the underlying data are not available. The Global Fund's present performance-based funding system does not adequately convey incentives for performance to recipients, and the organisation should redesign this system to explicitly link a portion of the funds to a simple performance measure in health coverage or outcomes, measured independently and robustly. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today

In the beginning of 2011, the Dean of the Humanities at Aalborg University invited researchers to forward project proposals in response to her strategic effort at boosting “the integration of research, teaching and knowledge interaction” across the faculty. The idea of Students’ Minutes was proposed by the present editors, accepted by the dean, and allocated funds. This special issue, then, attempts to facilitate the conversion of the energy present at the interface of research and education at universities into legitimate and BFI-recognized research. The call for the issue describes it as consisting of articles which are edited and rewritten projects and theses from our students from all study programmes at the Faculty of but emphasizes that the supervisor of the projects and theses becomes responsible as an active co-author, who must guarantee the scientific level of the articles: You must make sure that they fulfil the demands of research quality and communication, as the articles are subject to normal, external and anonymous reviews. So you must tell the students about the conditions of research that their articles can receive review feedbacks based on these questions: Can the manuscript be published as it is? Can the manuscript be published with minor adjustments?, Can the manuscript be published with major adjustments?, or Should the manuscript be rejected? We received articles from almost all the departments with a wide variation of subjects, as the present special issue of Academic Quarter demonstrates. It is obvious that the students whom the researchers and supervisors encourage to publish academically even under these strict conditions may feel tempted to pursue a researcher career, and this is one of the motivations for the special issue. The wider academic context of the issue is the subject of the article by the editors Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today Case Students’ Minutes. Jorgen Riber Christensen and Jens Kirk Conditions of the Production of Knowledge Today Case Students’ Minutes. The article demonstrates how the Danish Bibliometrical system works and attempts to evaluate its effects. As an incentive does it motivate and encourage researchers? Does it further the communication and spread of their research? What effect has it had on universities? The article discusses and describes the working conditions in research groups at Aalborg University, and it also focus on how the present research journal, Academic Quarter, has sought to meet the demands of the bibliometrical system and on the achievements of the journal within this system, locally, nationally and globally. The article attempts an outline of what we perceive as the key conditions that have formed the knowledge and research available in Students’ Minutes. We begin with the context of the Danish performance-based research funding system. We move on to what we consider to be a fundamental condition, i.e. BFI and to show how it permeates research and research management at Aalborg University, in particular the Faculty of the Humanities, the departments and the research groups. Then, we show how BFI paradoxically has given rise to the recognition of the very research activities it excludes in the form of what we see as the third condition, or BFI+. Lastly, we introduce the fourth basic condition of the present publication, i.e. a strategic initiative at the level of the faculty.

The representation of the social sciences and humanities in the Web of Science--a comparison of publication patterns and incentive structures in Flanders and Norway (2005-9)

This article studies publication patterns in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in Flanders and Norway using two databases that both cover all SSH peer-reviewed journal articles by university scholars for the period 2005--9. The coverage of journal articles by the Web of Science (WoS) and the proportion of articles published in English are studied in detail applying the same methodologies to both databases. The study of WoS coverage and language use is chosen because the performance-based funding systems that are in place in both countries have given different emphasis to publishing in WoS covered journals. The results show very similar, almost identical evolutions in the use of English as a publication language. The proportion of articles covered by the WoS, however, is stable for Norway but has increased rapidly for Flanders. This finding shows that the parameters used in a performance-based funding system may influence the publishing patterns of researchers. Copyright The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

Changing publication patterns in the Social Sciences and Humanities, 2000–2009

An analysis of the changing publication patterns in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) in the period 2000–2009 is presented on the basis of the VABB-SHW, a full coverage database of peer reviewed publication output in SSH developed for the region of Flanders, Belgium. Data collection took place as part of the Flemish performance-based funding system for university research. The development of the database is described and an overview of its contents presented. In terms of coverage of publications by the Web of Science we observe considerable differences across disciplines in the SSH. The overall growth rate in number of publications is over 62.1%, but varies across disciplines between 7.5 and 172.9%. Publication output grew faster in the Social Sciences than in the Humanities. A steady increase in the number and the proportion of publications in English is observed, going hand in hand with a decline in publishing in Dutch and other languages. However, no overall shift away from book publishing is observed. In the Humanities, the share of book publications even seems to be increasing. The study shows that additional full coverage regional databases are needed to be able to characterise publication output in the SSH.

Arts funding in New Zealand: a proposal for reform

The article outlines the current system of central government financial support for the arts in New Zealand and critiques this on the basis of the nature of the market failures that justify public support in principle. It is noted that the design of arts funding systems is a neglected topic in Cultural Economics, despite the relatively large sums involved and the unevenness of their disbursement. In New Zealand, on average, more than 40 cents of public money is handed over to arts producers for every dollar that the sector earns in the private market (the “box-office”), but with huge variations for different art categories. Nearly all support is directed at the supply side of the arts, whereas the principles of public finance suggest that funding should be ex post, topping-up revenues earned from the sale of art in the market. The article develops the mechanics of a performance-based arts funding system.

Lessons Learned From the Provision and Funding of Employment Services for the MR/DD Population

The goal of Ticket to Work is to support job acquisition and job retention among Social Security Administration (SSA) disability beneficiaries in job situations where earnings are sufficient to move these individuals off SSA disability cash benefits. This article considers the adequacy of provider payment incentives through the Ticket to Work for helping persons with mental retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD) achieve employment outcomes. It examines the work support strategies that have demonstrated their effectiveness in assisting persons with MR/DD acquire and retain employment, particularly with SSI and SSDI recipients. It analyzes the experience to date in using performance-based funding to purchase job acquisition and retention services, and the implications of this experience for the implementation of the Ticket to Work reforms. Specific areas related to the Ticket to Work addressed in the article include: the ceilings on current proposed milestone-outcome and outcome payments in the Ticket compared to what is known about providers' cost structures in other performance-based funding systems; and the factors likely to influence the decision-making of Employment Networks in accepting or rejecting Tickets. The article concludes with recommendations for restructuring the Ticket to Work to improve the adequacy of access to the Ticket program for SSI/SSDI recipients who are potentially viewed by Employment Networks as highly challenged in achieving an employment outcome.