March 2021 International Evaluation of Scientific Institutions Activity Panel Report: Social Sciences Professor John Furlong, Professor Albert Doja, Professor John Hagedoorn, Professor Asta Pundziene, Professor Jannis Angelis, Professor Margus Pedaste, Professor Christofer Edling, Professor Peter Neijens, Professor Marco Perugini, Professor Tapio Raunio, Professor Birute Praneviciene www.technopolis-group.com March 2021 International Evaluation of Scientific Institutions Activity Panel Report: Social Sciences Professor John Furlong, Professor Albert Doja, Professor John Hagedoorn, Professor Asta Pundziene, Professor Jannis Angelis, Professor Margus Pedaste, Professor Christofer Edling, Professor Peter Neijens, Professor Marco Perugini, Professor Tapio Raunio, Professor Birute Praneviciene www.technopolis-group.com Table of Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Institution reports 6 S_1 The BA School of Business and Finance 6 S_2 RISEBA Faculty of Business and Economy 11 S_3 ISMA Business Laboratory 16 S_4 Rezekne Academy of Technology, Research Institute for Regional Studies 21 S_5 Rezekne Academy of Technology, Research Institute for Business and Social Processes 26 S_8 Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences 31 S_9 Foundation "Baltic Studies Centre" 37 S_10 Riga Stradins University, Platform of Social Sciences 42 S_11 Center for Security and Strategic Research 50 S_12 Daugavpils University research programme "Educational sciences, psychology, economy, and law” 54 S_13 Liepāja University Educational Sciences Unit 59 S_14 Faculty of Engineering Economics and Management, Riga Technical University 64 S_15 Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies Social Sciences 70 S_16 Economy and Entrepreneurship Unit, Liepāja University 75 S_17 Cluster of Social Sciences, University of Latvia 80 3 Summary of findings across the set of institutional evaluations 86 3.1 The organisation of the field 86 3.2 The quality of research in the field as a whole 86 3.3 Research quality in individual institutions 87 3.4 Strengths of the field 91 3.5 Main weaknesses 92 3.6 Recommendations 94 Feedback on Panel assessment 97 International Evaluation of Scientific Institutions Activity 2 P A G Figures S_1 The BA School of Business and Finance 6 S_2 RISEBA Faculty of Business and Economy 11 S_3 ISMA Business Laboratory 16 S_4 Rezekne Academy of Technology, Research Institute for Regional Studies 21 S_5 Rezekne Academy of Technology, Research Institute for Business and Social Processes 26 S_8 Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences 31 S_9 Foundation "Baltic Studies Centre" 37 S_10 Riga Stradins University, Platform of Social Sciences 42 S_11 Center for Security and Strategic Research 50 S_12 Daugavpils University research programme "Educational sciences, psychology, economy, and law” 54 S_13 Liepāja University Educational Sciences Unit 59 S_14 Faculty of Engineering Economics and Management, Riga Technical University 64 S_15 Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies Social Sciences 70 S_16 Economy and Entrepreneurship Unit, Liepāja University 75 S_17 Cluster of Social Sciences, University of Latvia 80 International Evaluation of Scientific Institutions Activity 3 P A G 1 Introduction International Evaluation of Scientific Institutions Activity analysed the research performance and international competitiveness considering also socioeconomic impact and development potential of the institutions. Results of the evaluation can serve as input in policy making and will enable the institutions to improve their performance based on the recommendations. The Social Sciences panel evaluated 16 institutions: ● RISEBA Faculty of Business and Economy ● ISMA Business Laboratory ● Rezekne Academy of Technology, Research Institute for Regional Studies ● Rezekne Academy of Technology, Research Institute for Business and Social Processes ● Business Competence Centre1 ● Riga Stradins University, Platform of Social Sciences ● Liepāja University Educational Sciences Unit ● Faculty of Engineering Economics and Management, Riga Technical University ● Economy and Entrepreneurship Unit, Liepāja University ● The BA School of Business and Finance ● Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences ● Foundation "Baltic Studies Centre" ● Center for Security and Strategic Research ● Daugavpils University research programme "Educational sciences, psychology, economy, and law" ● Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies Social Sciences ● Cluster of Social Sciences, University of Latvia The Panel evaluated the institutions using the following criteria: ● Quality of the research ● Impact on the scientific discipline ● Economic impact ● Social impact ● Research environment and infrastructure ● Development potential The evaluation of each institution involved documentary review and Panel Members’ online discussions with institutions. The final evaluation of each institute is a collective view of the Expert Panel. Experts were provided with summary data tables for each institution that aggregated data from self-assessment reports in the following manner: 1 Institution requested not to publish the results of evaluation for this institution. www.technopolis-group.com ● FTE academic and research personnel 2018 – sum of all academic and research personnel in full-time equivalent in 2018 excluding other acting academic and acting academic research personnel, research attending staff, research technical staff and all level students ● Total number of self-reported outputs 2013-2018 – sum of i) Articles in peer reviewed scientific edited journals and conference proceedings included in WoS or SCOPUS; ii) Articles in peer reviewed scientific edited journals and conference proceedings not included in WoS or SCOPUS; iii) Monographs; iv) Patents (Latvia) as well as v) Patents (Europe and international) ● Total funding – sum of i) Total state funding (Base funding plus Competitive state budget funding plus EU Structural Funds plus Other national funding); ii) Total international funding (EU Framework Programmes plus Other international funding); and iii) Private funding. The analysis of each institution is presented in following sections. Feedback on Panel assessment received from the institutions is published in the Error! Reference source not found.. The Panel has reviewed the feedback and made small changes in some of the individual reports. 5 2 Institution reports S_1 The BA School of Business and Finance Institution data Primary field of science Social Sciences Corresponding fields of science Economics and business No. FTE academic personnel 2018 6,38 No. FTE academic research personnel 2018 2,00 Total number of FTE academic and research 8,38 personnel 2018 Articles in peer reviewed scientific edited journals 29,00 and conference proceedings included in WoS or SCOPUS in period 2013-2018 Articles in peer reviewed scientific edited journals 81,00 and conference proceedings not included in WoS or SCOPUS Monographs in period 2013-2018 1 Patents Latvian in period 2013-2018 0,00 Patents (Europe and international) in period 2013- 0,00 2018 Total no. of self-reported outputs in period 2013-2018 111,00 No. of WoS or Scopus outputs in period 2013-2018 per 3,46 researcher in 2018 No. of all outputs in period 2018 per researcher in 13,25 2018 No of PhDs completed in period 2013-2018 6 No. of PhDs in period 2013-2018 per researcher in 0,72 2018 Total funding in period 2013 -2018 (Euros) 152.217 Total funding in period 2013-2018 per researcher in 18.164 2018 (Euros) The BA School of Business and Finance (BASBF) was established by the Bank of Latvia in 1992. Currently the school has 1400 students and 43 academic staff members. The research staff is small with 6.38 FTE academic and 2.00 FTE research personnel. The school has a firm national education position in business management and finance, conducts student-related, applied research for the industry, and is well-connected to other institutions. The joint doctoral programme with RISEBA is a strong asset. 6 Figure 1 The BA School of Business and Finance – Scores Overall score Score: 2 Most of BASBF research is applied. The BASBF produces a reasonable number of publications. The quality of the unit’s research is adequate, but it does not excel. Basic research is underdeveloped. There are few papers with international impact, published in high quality journals. BASBF undertakes few international activities and its international status and international research impact is therefore limited. The School does not receive basic research funding. It does not receive research grants or do paid commissioned research. National economic impact is realized through student research projects which is highly valued by firms and institutions such as banks and the ministries. The school has social impact at the national level through its educational programmes, student internships, participation in expert groups, and dissemination of insights through the website, social network sites, and its own journal. The research infrastructure of the school is adequate. The school has recently launched well- chosen and ambitious strategies and policies to improve its research performance. However, to what extent these will increase the research accomplishment of the unit is uncertain. Successes in the highly competitive national and EU funding schemes are seldom granted to small units which are only beginning their development as centres for research. Overall, the Panel assesses the research of BASBF as ‘adequate’. Quality of Research Score: 2 The school produced a total of 29 Scopus/WoS