Can an Academia Reward System Change Publication Habits? The Case of University Carlos III of Madrid

The effects of economic incentive policies in the research activities have been widely debated in the literature. In this sense, there is a debate about whether the incentives are irrelevant for some groups and even affect negatively, especially if it is perceived as a control/pressure (Andersen & Pallesen, 2008) and, who consider these incentives promote research productivity and the acquisition of other habits such as international collaboration.

The main purpose of this work is to analyze if the introduction of new economic incentives to the researchers affects the increase of the scientific production, impact and visibility of the research. Since 2007, the University Carlos III of Madrid has introduced a new university policy for research activities based on economic rewards in order to improve the scientific output. With that aim, indicators from scientific activity from 2000 to 2016 have been analysed and a mathematical model has been used in order to establish possible scenarios and estimate its prediction.

The preliminary findings point that, despite the stagnation of the number of researchers, the number of papers grew during the period, slightly higher than the simulated scenario without incentives. Notwithstanding, the papers published in the first quartile have considerably grown, denoting that publish journals with a greater impact, thus improving its visibility. Furthermore, an improvement of the internationalization can be observed. The analysis with the different scenarios has determined that these incentives have real positive effects and has lead into a publication habits change of the researchers in this University.