Research at UAb

Open, Innovative, Sustainable,

Recognized and Valued Worldwide

 

 

UAb, as the single public Distance Education university in Portugal, develops cutting-edge research in distance education, in strong articulation with the pedagogical offer of UAb, in its various scientific fields, based on solid institutional cooperation. Its RESEARCH POLICY (in Portuguese) is based on transparency, credibility, ethics, openness and innovation.

 

Objectives of UAb’s RESEARCH POLICY:

  1. Attract and value the best researchers;
  2. Valuing the UAb researcher;
  3. Promote the internationalization of research;
  4. Stimulating and valuing research activities in articulation with teaching;
  5. Promote greater articulation between the Research Units and UAb;
  6. Increase the visibility of research developed at UAb;
  7. Strengthen ethical principles and transparency in research;
  8. Promote the monitoring of the quantity and quality of research;
  9. Promote open and transparent research practices;
  10. Consolidate the transparency of knowledge anchored in the investigation carried out.

In the context of the Internal Quality Assurance System, UAb has a Research and Development Assessment and Improvement Committee (CAMID) whose competences are directly linked to compliance, monitoring and review of UAb’s research policy.

Within the scope of the principles of ethics in research, UAb has a Code of Ethics (in Portuguese) and an Ethics Committee (in Portuguese), to which opinions regarding research activities must be submitted, in accordance with the respective Regulations (in Portuguese).

 

SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION

An important part of the commitment to Research is the dissemination of the knowledge generated, namely through publication in UAb’s institutional repository, the REPOSITÓRIO ABERTO. As part of its academic and scientific production, almost 3,000 publications by UAb researchers are also referenced in the ISI Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases.

 

RESEARCH WITH VALUE

Universidade Aberta (in Portuguese) is among the 15 Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that best meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (in Portuguese), according to the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact ranking, published in June 2023.

UAb practically maintained the overall score obtained last year: 58.3 out of 100, having been evaluated in 6 SDGs:

SDG 4 – Quality Education;
SDG 5 – Gender Equality;
SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation;
SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth;
SDG 10 – Reduce Inequalities;
SDG 17 – Partnerships to implement the objectives.

UAb made significant progress in SDG 4 (+20%) having stood out in investing in Lifelong Learning, and in the number of first generation students (i.e. the first member of the ascending family to attend the University). In SDG 5 (+19%) it was valued by the strong investment in research on gender equality and the proportion of women with diplomas.

UAb is also one of the 27 Portuguese universities included in U-Multirank, with Research being one of the highlighted areas, in which it obtained Grade A in Indicators such as: Female Authors and Professional Publications.