Scientific research: One article per teacher per year: a poor score?
Moroccan teacher-researchers have long been considered unproductive in terms of scientific research, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, where the majority were «dormant». In recent years, a new dynamic seems to be emerging, with a notable improvement in the number of publications each year.
The number of Scopus-indexed articles published by the 12 public universities rose from 5,119 in 2014 to 17,503 in 2023, according to the latest data shared by the CNRST (National Center for Scientific and Technical Research). This has increased the average number of annual publications by teacher-researchers from 0.3 articles to 1. But is this a good score? How many indexed publications per year are needed to consider a researcher “productive”?
«Five articles changed the world»
«It is not just a question of quantity, but above all of quality. Especially since it has become relatively easy to publish, given the large number of journals and conferences that are not very selective, if at all», says Mounir Ghogho, an expert in ICT and its applications, ranked among the top 2% of science researchers worldwide according to Stanford University’s ranking. He is currently a professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P). His opinion is shared by Belkheir Hammouti, who also appears in the prestigious American university’s ranking and is now a researcher at Euromed University in Fez. «There is no productivity threshold. Einstein published five articles that changed the world», he insists, knowing that Einstein produced many publications that did not have the same effect. Hammouti has, however, published no fewer than 864 Scopus-indexed publications to date (more than 30,900 citations and an H-index of 92). This is a record in Morocco. «I publish mainly to show that we can do it even with modest means», he argues.
It is therefore all about the impact of publications, as Rachid Guerraoui, another Moroccan researcher in Stanford University’s top 2% worldwide, currently a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where he heads the Distributed Computing Laboratory, also points out. He is also chairman of the steering committee of the College of Computing at UM6P. «Great researchers may publish one paper a year, or even one paper every three years, but is But it’s really very substantial stuff. And then you have other people who publish lots of weak productions every year. Can they be considered active?» , he explains.
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