The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School THE EXPANSION OF SCIENCE PRODUCTION AT KOREAN UNIVERSITIES, 1970–2017 A Dissertation in Educational Theory and Policy by Hyerim Kim © 2019 Hyerim Kim Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2019 The dissertation of Hyerim Kim was reviewed and approved* by the following: David P. Baker Professor of Education and Sociology Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Soo-yong Byun Associate Professor of Education Maryellen Schaub Associate Professor of Education Education and Public Policy Liying Luo Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography Katerina Bodovski Associate Professor of Education Chair of Graduate Program, Educational Theory and Policy *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii ABSTRACT Since 1970, when Korean researchers published the first journal article from their country to be cataloged in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), science production has exponentially expanded among Korean universities. This rapid growth was not driven by a few specific institutions. Rather, it was possible because virtually all universities with STEM programs, regardless of their institutional mission, participated in scholarly publishing. Meanwhile, the Korean government implemented a special research funding initiative, Brain Korea 21, in 1999 to stimulate science production among universities. Using multilevel linear regression models, this dissertation examines the effect of the BK 21 program; it finds that BK 21 had a positive effect on publications, but that its effect turned insignificant when more comparable groups of universities were examined. This research also demonstrates that the scientific collaboration network in Korea has moved from one strongly dominated by a few specific actors to one with more actors participating more equally and significantly. By using an exclusive longitudinal data set of publications—a data set that had not previously been examined—the research reflected in this dissertation contributes to an understanding of the expansion of science production in Korea, changes in publication characteristics, the role of a government-funded project in enhancing science productivity, and the formation of a scientific collaboration network among Korean universities and other countries. Given the relatively short history of the Korean higher education system, this study provides a landscape of how science production has been developed in Korea since its beginning. Keywords: South Korea, research university, science production, SCIE journal articles iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii Dedication .................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2. Literature Review ...........................................................................................................6 1. Worldwide Expansion of Higher Education and Korean Experience ....................................6 2. Policy Intervention to Increase Science Productivity in Universities ....................................8 3. Collaboration in Science Publication ...................................................................................11 Chapter 3. Development of Higher Education in Korea ................................................................13 1. Establishment of Higher Education System, 1945–1950s ...................................................13 2. Expansion of Higher Education, 1960s–Early 1990s ..........................................................16 3. Investment in Research for World-class Research University, Since Mid-1990s ...............21 Chapter 4. Brain Korea 21 Project .................................................................................................25 1. Background .........................................................................................................................25 2. Goals and Strategies ............................................................................................................27 3. Project Design .....................................................................................................................29 4. Evaluation ............................................................................................................................33 Chapter 5. Research Design ...........................................................................................................35 1. Data and Variables ...............................................................................................................35 2. Analytical Models ................................................................................................................41 3. Network Analysis Methods ..................................................................................................45 Chapter 6. Results ..........................................................................................................................48 1. Growth of Science Production in Korea since 1970 ............................................................48 2. Effects of BK 21 (Phase II) on University Science Production ...........................................59 iv 3. Evolution of the Scientific Collaboration Network ..............................................................75 Chapter 7. Discussion and Suggestions .........................................................................................87 1. Discussion of Findings .........................................................................................................87 2. Policy Implications ...............................................................................................................90 3. Limitations and Direction for Future Research ....................................................................93 Appendix A: List of Korean Universities with Their Key Characteristics ....................................95 Appendix B: Summary of Science Production in Korean Universities and Collaborating Countries, 1970–2017 ............................................................................................105 References ....................................................................................................................................120 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1. Annual Number of SCIE Articles Worldwide, 1900–2018 ........................................ 2 Figure 1-2. Annual Number of SCIE Articles in Korea, 1970–2018 .............................................3 Figure 3-1. Growth of Higher Education in Korea, 1965–2017 ...................................................18 Figure 5-1. Illustration of Network Data Construction .................................................................47 Figure 6-1. Composition of SCIE Articles by University Missions, 1970–2017 .........................54 Figure 6-2. Total Number of SCIE Articles by Journal Impact Factor across University Mission, 1997–2017 ..................................................................................................................57 Figure 6-3. Composition of SCIE Articles by Journal Impact Factor across University Mission, 1997–2017 ..................................................................................................................58 Figure 6-4. Annual BK 21 Money and External R&D Funds across University Mission and in Sample Universities (in million U.S. dollars between 2006 and 2012) .....................64 Figure 6-5. Logged Mean Number of SCIE Articles and Differences across BK 21 Status ........65 Figure 6-6. Predicted Mean Number of Articles and Differences across BK 21 Status ...............66 Figure 6-7. Network Graphs of 12 Selected Years .......................................................................78 Figure 6-8. Evolution of Normalized Node Centrality, 1973–2017 .............................................83 Figure 6-9. Subgroup Graphs of Four Selected Years ..................................................................85 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3-1. Number of College Students by Major, 1965–2017 ....................................................20 Table 4-1. Overview of the Brain Korea 21 Project .....................................................................30 Table 6-1. Science Production at Korean Universities, 1970–2017 .............................................50 Table 6-2. Expansion of Universities’ Participation in Science Production .................................51 Table 6-3. Mean Number of Authors and Organizations per Article by Year .............................51 Table 6-4. Average Number of SCIE Articles by University Mission .........................................55 Table 6-5. Growth Rate of Mean Publication by University Mission from 1970 to 2017 ...........56 Table 6-6. Descriptive Statistics of Variables (109 universities, 1999–2012) .............................60 Table 6-7. Correlations between Predictor and Covariates ..........................................................61