Seven highly cited Spanish researchers changed their main affiliation to universities in Saudi Arabia

The CSIC is analyzing the way in which double affiliation, which regulates the Science Law, will be applied in the institution

MADRID, 18 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Seven Spanish researchers entered the Clarivete Highly Cited Researchers (HRC) list with a primary affiliation in a Spanish institution, but most of them one year later changed their primary affiliation to a Saudi Arabian university.

This is revealed by the report 'The affiliation game between Spanish and Saudi Higher Education and Research institutions', carried out by the consultant Siris after the publication of an article in El País in which it reported that the chemist Rafael Luque had been suspended by the University of Córdoba from his employment and salary for the next thirteen years due to the incorrect scientific affiliation of his research production.

The paper, which analyzes Clarivate's list of Highly Cited Researchers, which features around 7,000 researchers, explains that for universities, having highly cited researchers "is important because it is seen as a mark of quality and increases their appeal." Furthermore, this list is a "key indicator" of the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities.

In this sense, the research highlights that a single highly cited researcher can allow a university to gain up to 200 positions in the Shanghai Ranking.

In 2019, the Spanish researcher Rafael Luque indicated that the University of Córdoba was his secondary affiliation and placed King Saud University as his main affiliation. The Shanghai Ranking only takes into account the main affiliations.

Saudi Arabia, with 112 highly cited researchers, has a proportion between five and ten times higher of these researchers compared to Spain, Germany or France. According to Clarivate, 44 of these researchers are only associated with Saudi institutions through research grants and not main employment.

One of them is the chemist Rafael Luque, along with six other Spanish researchers. These 44 cases are distributed mainly between King Saud University and King Abdulaziz University, representing more than half of their affiliated highly cited researchers.

The report by Siris, which indicates that more than half of the highly cited researchers at King Saud University and King Abdulaziz University have affiliations only through a research grant, warns of the possibility that the real number "is still greater, since in 2021 only nine researchers with this type of affiliation to Saudi universities were listed".

Furthermore, among the 112 highly cited researchers from Saudi Arabia, it stands out that there is a "surprisingly high" number of eleven researchers who indicate Spanish institutions as secondary affiliations (second only to China, which appears as a secondary affiliation for 12 researchers).

"Being aware of these cases could help these institutions investigate whether affiliation details need to be corrected and thus ensure that credit is correctly attributed to the primary employer of those researchers," the report said.

Given these data, CSIC sources have informed Europa Press that the institution is studying it, although at the moment it cannot give a definitive answer in this regard, since they have found "inconsistencies" in some data that appear in Clarivate that need to be reviewed with more detail.

On the other hand, the same sources recall that the new Science and Innovation Law regulates double affiliation from September 2022 and the CSIC is analyzing the way in which it will be applied in the institution.