To Improve the Success of the Research Policies in Algeria:

Understanding the Issues and Designing a Long-Term

Strategy
Dalila Benachenhou
Femvestor, Inc.
d_b@femvestor.com

While Algeria ranks number three after South Africa and Egypt in research, it has only
560 researches per million, compared with the average of 1,063 researchers per million in
the world. In 2009, Algerian scientists published only 2,972 papers in the international
forum, and added 160 projects to specific industries. The issue is, thus, straightforward
and can be expressed in one simple question the answer to which is, however, complex:
How can we improve the number of researchers and the number of their publications, in
order to close the research intensity gap between Algeria and the rest of the World? The
government has taken, at the end of 2007, a pro-active position, by increasing the funding
of research activities to the amount of 100 billion DA (representing 1.7 billion dollars or
1% of the projected Algerian GDP) to the research budget over a period of 5 years (2008-
2012).

Has this done the work? Although no evaluation has been made on the impact of the
increase in funding on research since the program was announced nearly three years ago,
the probable answer might but be moot, because, without a strategic approach, which
implies a clear vision, based on a classical SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats) analysis, which will help understand and break the hurdles researchers are
confronted to, money alone would have little effect on the volume and the quality of the
research activities, or on the number of researchers. If we don’t know within what scope
researchers are working, and what types of hardship they are encountering in their
everyday work, any policy focusing solely on matters of financial resources to push
forward research in Algeria would fail. It might be high time for an evaluation to be done.

From recently interviewing some researchers positioned in Algiers, and Bel-Abbés, and
through the web, I was able to find out that:

1. Performing research and publishing doesn’t translate in better pay.

2. Research papers are jealously saved and hidden. There is no, or little, cooperation
between researchers.
3. Conference attendance is granted on the basis of personal relationship, and
depends on personal networking rather than on the need dictated by the subject of
research at stake;
4. The opening and closing hours of the laboratories depend on the good will of the
security staff,, not on the requirements of the research tasks;.
5. It is hard to have access to the equipment and material required for the
 research.because of the inadequate allocation of resources between the different
items of the budget of laboratories: As Mr. Jaffal Ammar, director of a laboratory
at L’Université d’Alger stated; 60% of the research budget goes to
administrative expensesi.
6. It is difficult, if not merely impossible, for researchers to have access to
international data banks of scientific publications, because of ineffective internet
capacities, and the lack of financing for the subscription to digitalized data banks,
such as JSTOR and others;
7. Language barrier is a problem too: most published papers are written in English,
but there is no program available to translate these papers into French or Arabic
and no drafting specialists to help Algerian researchers write their papers in
English. Besides, there exists no special training in English for the researchers
willing to make the necessary effort to improve their mastering of if;
8. There is no connection between business and research centersii.
9. A national system to evaluate research is lacking, as stated by Mr. Abdelhafid
Aourag, general director of scientific research and technology development.

These hurdles explain partially the small number of researchers, and the reasons why:
1. Researchers will prefer to work on theoretical problems that have little use to the
business need, and to the enterprise.
2. The brightest prefer exile to developed countries.
3. Researchers find that they can be more productive in developed countries where
they are provided with better working environment.
4. Very few tenured professors are motivated to do research work.

This short report does not pretend to cover all the issues which might hamper scientific
research and publications in Algeria. If it has never been done, a formal survey of
researchers, based on well- designed questionnaire and a sampling, needs be
performed to determine whether the hurdles listed above are endemic in nature or
specific to a certain field of activities. Analyzing the answers to this survey, in
case the idea is accepted, would help the Algerian government define and
implement a successful research strategy and design adequate policies that will
create an environment proper to fostering scientific research.
i
http://www.scidev.net/fr/science-and-innovation-policy/intellectual-
property/news/l-alg-rie-renforce-fortement-son-budget-scientifique.html
ii
http://ddkabylie.unblog.fr/2010/04/27/luniversite-algerienne-face-aux-imperatifs-
de-la-recherche-scientifique/
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=370795739509&topic=12413