2018 was the most productive year in the institute's 80-year history, writes MAGNUS HENREKSON. IFN researchers have produced world-class research that is most relevant for industry and then successfully conveyed the results also outside the academy.
The Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) is a private and independent foundation devoted to pursuing highly relevant research for trade and industry. What we achieve can be measured and thus compared to previous years and how we stand in competition with other institutions and researchers both in Sweden and in the rest of the world. Looking back at 2018, we can pronounce that it has been the most productive year in the institute's 80-year history.
The number of working papers exceeded 60 for the first time during a single year. But this is just the first step. A just acknowledgment of the quality of IFN's research is that virtually all working papers are eventually published in scientific journals or anthologies. Last year was an absolute record year with 76 published journal articles and international anthology contributions.
The quality adjustment made according to IFN's transparent score system also shows that the number of publications has increased at the same time as the ranking of the journals where the research has been published on average remained at the same high level as before.
At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that the deeper purpose of socio-economic research is not to be published in an excellent journal. This is, of course, an important acknowledgment that the research is of high quality, but the deeper aim is to increase knowledge about how the economy works. The hope is that this new knowledge will provide guidance and basis for decisions that contribute to the economy functioning better and welfare to increase.
Therefore, it is a priority task for IFN to communicate its research more broadly and to participate in the public debate on a research basis.
Also in this respect, 2018 was an extremely productive year. The Institute's researchers published 14 books during and were editors for six anthologies. To this should be added 28 longer journal articles and contributions to anthologies in Swedish, over 70 opinion pieces and columns in leading Swedish newspapers and 17 more comprehensive scientific papers in Swedish and international essay journals.
What has been achieved in 2018 shows the ability of IFN to produce world-class research that is relevant for trade and industry. But also that the researchers successfully can communicate these results to the society at large. These successes have been achieved by the researchers' intellectual curiosity and creativity paired with dedicated and hard work. At the same time, success is a challenge; Continued success presupposes that we remain humble and constantly remind us that it requires equal hard work and equally great dedication to maintain the position we have succeeded in achieving!
MAGNUS HENREKSON