This article analyzes the views on the international ranking published by Scimago and Thomson Reuters, and the national ranking of Germany (published by the Federal Science Council of Germany) and Japan (published by Thomson Reuters) to clearly understand the significance of ranking of research institutions. | JSTPM Vol 4, No 4, 2015 51 THE NECESSITY OF RANKING RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS IN VIETNAM Dr. Pham Xuan Thao, Dr. Tran Hau Ngoc, Nguyen Ngoc Chien, Do Thi Thuy Duong, Do Son Tung Vietnam center for Science and Technology Evaluation Abstract: Through the study on the world ranking of research organizations1, the authors looked at the effect of rating the performance of the institutions concerned. There are two types of rankings, ranking of research institutions in the world (called international ranking) and ranking of research institutions in the country (known as national ranking). This article analyzes the views on the international ranking published by Scimago and Thomson Reuters, and the national ranking of Germany (published by the Federal Science Council of Germany) and Japan (published by Thomson Reuters) to clearly understand the significance of ranking of research institutions. The authors also analyzed the views on the necessity of ranking of research institutions in Vietnam for science and technology (S&T) development policy makers and the research organizations themselves as well as for local public, in general. From the analysis, the authors considered that in the present context of S&T of Vietnam, ranking the research organizations was a necessary task to perform in parallel with the periodic review of their performance. Keywords: Ratings; Research Organizations; Policy Planning; Science and Technology development Code: 15081701 1. Introduction The publication of the evaluation results and ranking of research institutions in the world has just been thriving since the late 1990s and early 2000s, but it has become a major concern in the society and research community in many countries around the world. In a number of scientific forums, people hotly debated on the ranking and the published line-up. There was not only much praise for rankings, but also controversial reaction - criticism for some rankings. International rankings had .
