ASTANA – Several Kazakh universities and scientists received the Science Leader 2016 award during the Science and Innovation – the Basis of Economic Development forum in Almaty, reported Forbes.kz on Nov. 21.
Photo credit: forbes.kz
The winners’ achievements were evaluated in terms of publication activity and citations based on data from Thomson Reuter’s Web of Science, according to National Centre of Science Technology Evaluation Chairperson Adil Ibrayev.
Awards were presented in different categories. Eurasian National University, Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, National Centre for Biotechnology and Nazarbayev University were named as Kazakhstan’s most cited science organisations for 2011-2015.
Honours in Kazakh journal articles with a high impact in the physical sciences went to Institute of Chemical Sciences named after Bekturov representatives Nurzhan Kurmankulov, Yelena Sycheva, Svetlana Vizer and Kazbek Yerzhanov. Temirbolat Kenshinbay and Rakhat Kurmanbayev of Kyzylorda State University and Margulan Archaeology Institute scholar Dmitry Voyakin received awards in the same category.
Photo credit: forbes.kz
The technical sciences awards were presented to Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute’s Inna Reva and Nazarbayev University’s Almagul Mentbayeva. City Cardiac Centre representative Orazbek Sakhov and Karaganda State Medical University scholar Ilya Azizov were awarded for their excellent work in the medical sphere. Zhaksylyk Sabitov of Eurasian National University and Bagila Maisupova of Kazakh Research Institute of Forestry were acknowledged in the field of agricultural and biological sciences.
“Judging by the total number of publications according to the InCites source, in 2011 Kazakhstan was rated 101st among 215 countries, while in 2015 the country moved to 78th place. Looking at the citation rate in 2015, the situation has improved significantly and almost has reached the world average level,” said Vice Minister of Education and Science Aslanbek Amrin.
The most cited young Kazakh scientists for 2008-2015 award in physics was given to Kazakh National University scholars Merlan Dosbolayev and Bolat Uralbekov and Suleyman Demirel University’s Maria Nemchenko. The life sciences award went to Ilya Korotetskiy of Scientific Centre of Anti-Infectious Drugs and Kaisar Tabynov of Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems was the most cited in agricultural sciences. The social sciences award went to Kazakh-British Technical University’s Timur Narbayev and technical sciences honour to Maxim Zdorovets of the Institute of Nuclear Physics. Olzhas Urazayev of West Kazakhstan National Medical University received the medical field award.
The rapid growth in the number of publications by Kazakh scientists is related to the country’s success and the excellent results of the nation’s efforts in science are the result of correct decisions, said Amrin.
“Within the implementation of the Law ‘On Science’ adopted in 2011, a qualitatively new model of science management in the country was introduced, research activity of Kazakh scientists has increased and so did the number of Kazakh publications in the world flow,” he added.
Amrin noted there are currently more than 1,300 Kazakh publications in the Thomson Reuters, Elsevier and Springer global databases. In 2011, the number was three times lower.
In a world where millions of scientists work and approximately 28,000 science journals publish more than one million articles each year, specialisation gives the best results, said Thomson Reuters Global Head of Emerging Markets Viji Krishnan. Kazakhstan has a serious base in disciplines such as physics, chemical sciences and materials science that with the right approach may become a competitive advantage, she added.
