KEMRI Ranked Top in Health Research

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is ranked the top health research institution in Kenya in terms of health research output, according to the authoritative global information analytics giant, Scimago Lab.

The Institute out performed its contemporaries, the International Livestock Research Institute Kenya (ILRI), World Agroforestry Centre Kenya (WACK), International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) , the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), among other institutions in the just released 2023 rankings by Scimago Lab carried out in conjunction with Elsevier, technologically based company offering innovative solutions to improve the Scientific Visibility
and Online Reputation.

On the continent, KEMRI has been ranked 3rd in Africa out of 352 institutions with the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) top on the list and the Centro de Investigacao em Saude da Manhica coming in second.

Scimago Lab works closely with international partners from the publishing realm, scientific information suppliers, universities and government agencies. Scimago Lab and Elsevier developed a cutting-edge analysis tool, and evaluation concepts which analyses institution research performance across the world based on comprehensive and authoritative data including high-level disambiguation procedures.

It operates what is known as the Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR), a classification of academic and research related institutions ranked by a composite indicator that combines different sets of indicators based on research performance, innovation outputs and societal impact. The ranking is divided into five sectors: government, health, higher education, private and others. For each, it measures areas such as: research output, international collaboration, normalized impact and publication rate.

The Institute has continued to perform well in the SIR classifications for the past four years. In 2019 an subsequent period, KEMRI was ranked the top research institution both in the country and in Africa.

SIR reviews every dimension of the scholarly communication carried out at an organization providing valuable information about research performance, efficiency and effectiveness of the institution’s research policies and programs. In addition, the SIR provides a friendly interface that allows the visualization of any customized ranking from the combination of sets of indicators and compares the trends before arriving at a conclusion.

The SIR includes both, size-dependent and size independent indicators; that is indicators influenced and not influenced by the size of the institutions. In this manner, the SIR provides overall statistics of the scientific publication and other output of institutions, at the same time that enables comparisons between institutions of different sizes.

Some of the score Indicators include Research Factor, Normalized Impact, Excellence with Leadership Output, Scientific Leadership, High Quality Publications, International Collaboration among others. Others are Knowledge Patents, Technological Impact, Societal Factor etc.

On receiving the news, Director General CEO Prof. Elijah Songok expressed his gratitude to the KEMRI fraternity upon receiving the news, he said, “First, I want to thank the Board of Directors for providing the Institute with the leadership, and second to the members of staff for working tirelessly in ensuring the dissemination of health research is done effectively. As an Institute we are keen in further improving human health research through innovation not only to the country but also globally.”