AI researchers from computer science disciplines in the years 2013-2018

What is the number of computer and information science researchers in Poland?

The report “AI researchers and their publications” looks at data concerning publications on artificial intelligence, broken down by disciplines, research centres, or the quality of the journal in which the scientific paper was published.

  • The first part of the report presents the results of searches of the Polish Scientific Bibliography (PSB) contents for publications by researchers representing all disciplines of science using a list of keywords. More information can be accessed here.
  • In this part of the report, the analysis is narrowed down to the group of researchers representing computer and information sciences under natural sciences, and information and communication technology. More information can be accessed here.
  • The third part of the report concerns statistics based on the PSB searches for articles on AI published in high-profile computer science journals. More information can be accessed here.
  • The fourth part of the report presents the relevant maps, a ranking of research centres and their publication strategies. More information can be accessed here.

FULL TEXT OF THE REPORT in pdf format can be accessed HERE(please note: due to the mode of data presentation, this version is slightly different than the Internet version, where the last two chapters have been merged into one).

AI researchers from computer science disciplines

This part of the report presents statistics concerning AI researchers who indicate computer and information sciences or information and communication technology as one of their main disciplines of science.

The analysis of their publication record from 2013-2018 was conducted on the basis of a list of keywords identifying papers on AI registered in the Polish Scientific Bibliography.

Number of computer and information science researchers and number of scientific articles on IA which they published in the period 2013-2018

Rate of co-authorship and interdisciplinarity of publications on IA among computer and information science researchers in the period 2013-2018

The above two charts present data on scientific papers (monographs, chapters, articles), which were searched on the basis of a list of keywords in the title or abstract of the papers. The list of keywords included 294 AI terminology items in English, which were additionally translated into Polish.Source of two charts: OPI PIB own analysis based on data from the PSB, as of 07.05.2019.

Between 2013 and 2016, the number of computer and information science researchers dealing with IA and the number of their publications remained stable: in each subsequent year, there was an average of 984 new publications by 673 authors. Data for 2018 are for illustrative purposes only as they are still being entered into the PSB.

Over a half of AI publications by computer and information science researchers have just one author. As for publications with multiple authors, 36% were prepared by researchers representing various disciplines of science. Interestingly, 15% of all publications were developed as a result of cooperation of researchers who are computer scientists and representatives of other disciplines of science.

Number of computer and information science researchers who published one, two or at least three scientific papers on AI in the period 2013-2018, by academic degrees and titles

Note: The chart includes data on scientific papers (monographs, chapters, articles) which were searched on the basis of a list of keywords in the title or abstract of the papers. The list of keywords included 294 AI terminology items in English, which were additionally translated into Polish.
Source: OPI PIB own analysis based on data from the PSB, as of 07.05.2019.

Scientific papers on IA were published mostly by computer and information science researchers with a degree of doktor or higher, who constituted 56% of all authors. In the analysed period, among the authors of publications there were more holders of the degree of doktor habilitowany than professors.

The most numerous group of computer and information science authors comprises researchers who published at least three articles or monographs on AI within the six years subject to analysis (56%).

Number of computer and information science researchers who published at least one scientific article on IA in the period 2013-2018, by year of birth, against the backdrop of authors from the remaining disciplines of science

Note: The chart includes data on scientific papers (monographs, chapters, articles) which were searched on the basis of a list of keywords in the title or abstract of the papers. The list of keywords included 294 AI terminology items in English, which were additionally translated into Polish.Source: OPI PIB own analysis based on the PSB, as of 07.05.2019.

Of all the researchers under analysis, those in their thirties and forties published the highest number of papers (556 and 422 people, respectively). In total, they make up 64% of computer and information science researchers who publish papers.

The analysed group also includes 290 people aged sixty or more (19% of the total number of researchers).

The most popular keywords appearing in AI publications authored by researchers representing computer and information sciences in the years 2013-2018

Note: The chart includes data on scientific papers (monographs, chapters, articles) which were searched on the basis of a list of keywords in the title or abstract of the papers. The list of keywords included 294 AI terminology items in English, which were additionally translated into Polish.Source: OPI PIB own analysis based on the PSB, as of 07.05.2019.

In all the research papers on AI authored by computer and information science researchers, the most popular keyword is neural networks (711 publications contain phrase “neural network” in the title or the abstract).

The publications also concern data processing (“data mining”, “big data” – a total of 684 papers), imageprocessing (352 papers) and genetic algorithms (294 papers).

It is worth noting that the researchers frequently use the keywords related to the rough set theory by Zdzisław Pawlak, a Polish mathematician and computer scientist who lived in the years 1926-2006 (“rough set” and “fuzzy set” – a total of 493 articles). According to AI experts who took part in in-depth interviews, studies on Pawlak’s theory are one of the areas of expertise of Polish AI researchers.

Ranking of research centres with the highest number of computer and information science researchers who published scientific papers on IA in the period 2013-2018

Note: The chart includes data on scientific papers (monographs, chapters, articles) which were searched on the basis of a list of keywords in the title or abstract of the papers. The list of keywords included 294 AI terminology items in English, which were additionally translated into Polish.Source: OPI PIB own analysis based on the PSB, as of 07.05.2019.

The top five research centres in terms of the number of computer and information science researchers publishing papers on AI are: AGH University of Science and Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Silesian University of Technology, and Łódź University of Technology. Of all the faculties, the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology boasts the highest number of such experts.

Below you can find a ranking of twenty research centres where the majority of AI publications authored by computer and information science researchers was prepared.

It should be emphasised that the highest share of articles from the so-called A list was produced at the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBS PAN) (43.3%), the Poznań University of Technology (40.5%), University of Warsaw (40%), and the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPI PAN) (37.5%). Of all the research centres, IBS PAN (13.3) carries out the most extensive research on AI, manifesting itself in a high rate of publication authorship and co-authorship for one computer and information science researcher (13.3).

Ranking of research centres where computer and information science researchers published the highest number of scientific papers on AI in the period 2013-2018

Note: The chart includes data on scientific papers (monographs, chapters, articles) which were searched on the basis of a list of keywords in the title or abstract of the papers. The list of keywords included 294 AI terminology items in English, which were additionally translated into Polish.
* Rate of authorship or co-authorship of publications on AI per one researcher from a given institution.
Source: OPI PIB own analysis based on the PSB, as of 07.05.2019.

Methodological appendices

Appendix 1

Method of selecting keywords for the analysis of data from the Polish Scientific Bibliography

The selection of AI publications and researchers was made using machine methods (automatic search of databases), based on a list of keywords. It was assumed that this would allow to identify research papers on AI methods, applications and social aspects of the development of new technologies, presenting either a narrow (technical) or a broad picture of artificial intelligence.

The list of keywords was developed in a four-step-process. First, a broad set of keywords was compiled on the basis of the literature on the subject. Next, it was verified by experts: practitioners and researchers specialising in the area of AI (six people in total). At this stage, we eliminated the words which wrongly identify AI papers or are not unique to AI publications. The experts also had the opportunity to present their own keyword proposal. The list developed in this way included 294 terms in English.

At the next stage, the list of words in English was translated into Polish. The translated list included all possible translation options, which means that there were eventually more keywords in Polish than in English. The applied search technology enabled us to identify papers on the basis of singular, plural and declined words from the list.

At the final stage, after searching for publications in the PSB, a sample of titles and abstracts was selected in order to finally verify the effectiveness of the selected keywords in the identification of publications on AI. At this stage, a total of 29 phrases were eliminated from the set as they were too ambiguous to precisely identify papers concerning AI. Moreover, four phrases (emotion recognition, expression recognition, object recognition, pattern recognition) were removed from the list of keywords only for certain disciplines of science (e.g. psychology, linguistics, medical sciences) where the phrases are used in a different context. The verification of the list of keywords therefore allowed for the removal of excessively broad concepts that are not an exclusive distinguishing feature of artificial intelligence (e.g. clustering, casualty, Python, smart devices). Selected terms, however, are so broad in their meaning that they also identify narrower phrases (e.g. the term “convolutional neural network” identifies “neural network”).

Statistics prepared with the use of such a list of keywords are a good approximation of real-world values. The developed list can be extended in the future to include new keywords and other foreign languages. It can also be consulted with a different pool of experts.

Key sources for the identification of the keyword lists:

Appendix 2

Method of selecting top computer and information science journals on AI to analyse data from the Polish Scientific Bibliography

The set of IA publications in computer and information science journals to be analysed was determined on the basis of a list of Top Journals for Computer Science and Electronics published by Guide2Research.com. The website gathers data on research and international scientific conferences. In the tab “Top 600 Journals”, a list of international journals with impact factor is presented, divided by thematic areas under computer and information sciences.

For the purposes of the analysis, the following lists were used:

  • 111 journals from the area of machine learning, data mining and artificial intelligence,
  • 57 journals from the area of image processing and computer vision,
  • 28 journals from the area of human computer interaction.

The analysis takes into account all journals from the above lists in which scientists reporting their research achievements to the Polish Scientific Bibliography system published their articles. It should be noted that those journals are included in the list of ranked journals of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the so-called A list.

Source for the list of top computer and information science journals on AI:

Please send any questions regarding this study to: labstat@opi.org.pl