Publications and outreach

A revised IIASA Scientific Publications Policy was introduced in 2020 and sets forth the principles governing the various types of publications used by the institute to communicate its research results to external audiences. It provides more detailed guidance regarding open access, (creative commons) licenses, funder acknowledgements, and good scientific practice.

IIASA researchers published more widely in 2020 than in any previous year, with 439 journal articles published and 81% publicly available in the IIASA Publications Repository (PURE) (see charts).

Open access publishing was facilitated through renewed publishing agreements with major publishers including Elsevier, MDPI, Springer, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley in 2020. Readership of IIASA publications also grew in 2020 with 33,691 citations and 335,791 downloads from PURE. Female researchers coauthored 137 out of a total of 439 peer reviewed papers in 2020 (31%).

Open Access—Data and Models

Launched in 2019, an institutional research data repository, DARE, continues to provide open access and a persistent citable identification URL for a growing number of IIASA datasets for a minimum of 10 years, thereby guaranteeing the reproducibility, traceability, and validation of critical research produced by IIASA. In 2020, a comprehensive survey was undertaken into IIASA models and tools to inform the development of a new policy on open access to models and releasing scientific software at IIASA, which is expected to be introduced in 2021.

Outreach

Coverage of IIASA continued to grow in 2020, according to a wide range of indicators (see figures). IIASA uses a range of channels to reach a diverse global audience including the research community, policymakers, funders, and the general public. This includes press releases, the Nexus blog, newsletters, social media, policy briefs, and  the institute’s flagship biannual Options magazine. Both the institute’s social media followers and media coverage grew strongly in 2020, both in terms of reach and engagement resulting in 8,401 followers on Twitter, 5,455 on LinkedIn, 5,748 likes on Facebook, and more than 1,300 subscribers on YouTube in 2020. Work also began on both a new IIASA website and a new IIASA intranet to revamp their content and technology for launches in 2021.

Stakeholder engagement was strengthened through new ways of working with the IIASA National Member Organizations (NMOs) including consultations on NMO research priorities and training initiatives on IIASA models (e.g., CATSIM – catastrophe simulation model). As business travel and physical events plummeted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IIASA launched a new online platform, IIASA Connect, to build a global community of system analysts. The platform proved to be very popular among the IIASA network, and saw subscriber numbers quickly growing to over 300 members worldwide within the first six months after launch. In addition, a new series of impact case studies was launched to demonstrate the uptake of IIASA research findings by business, governments, and intergovernmental organizations.