In terms of scientific productivity, the ULS has reflected a continuous increase in the number of publications in Web of Science, WOS.

The National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT) published on Friday, December 20, the list with the award proposals for the Fondecyt Regular 2020 and Fondecyt Postdoctoral 2020 competitions.

FONDECYT is an important funding agency for fundamental research in Chile, dependent on CONICYT, which, as of January 6 of this year, was renamed “National Research and Development Agency” ANID.

In the 2020 Regular Fondecyt Competition, the ULS awards six projects, which correspond to academics Ricardo Amorín, from the Multidisciplinary Research Institute in Science and Technology; Cristian González, from the Department of Mathematics; Julio Gutiérrez, from the Department of Biology; Juan Carlos Helo, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy; Ronny Martínez, from the Department of Food Engineering; and Nelson Moraga, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“It should be noted that the majority of researchers are members of doctoral program faculty associated with their disciplines, which is why the awarding of projects, along with strengthening their own discipline, also strengthens the associated doctoral programs. For this contest, the ULS sponsored 23 proposals, obtaining 26%, a percentage that falls within the national average for project awards in recent years,” indicated the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies, Eduardo Notte.

On the other hand, in the Fondecyt Postdoctoral 2020 call, the ULS will obtain funding in four projects, allowing national and international doctors to work with academics from the university for periods of two or three years. One of them belongs to the Linguistics, Literature and Philology study group, and the remaining three doctors have Astronomy, Cosmology and Particles.

The Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies explained that the ULS sponsored 17 initiatives, giving an award rate of 23%. “As for the 2019 competition, the applications from young doctors who wish to collaborate with ULS researchers have been growing, taking into account that until 2018 the number of applications for this competition did not exceed four initiatives. Without a doubt a reflection of the level of excellence that scientific research has achieved at the ULS.”

Regarding the excellence and quality of the scientific research carried out by ULS academics, the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies stated that he is proud of the impact achieved in the period 2016-2019, which has shown a positive evolution compared to the period 2012. -2015.

This evolution translates into a lower fraction of publications in Q3 and Q4 journals, and a significant increase in the Q1 and Q2 quartiles, an indicator that serves to evaluate the relative importance of a journal ordered from highest to lowest impact index.

Another significant advance of the University of La Serena in the period 2016-2019, in terms of scientific productivity, has been the gradual increase in the number of Web of Science, WOS, publications compared to the previous period.

“There is an increase of 75% in the number of publications compared to the period 2012-2015, which reflects the effort and commitment of academics, as well as the impact that the creation of doctoral programs at the ULS has had on the quality and increase in publications,” concluded the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies.

Written by Sergio Muñoz, Office of Dissemination and Dissemination of Science and Technology