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Performance-based research funding systems are often assumed to create an increasing pressure to publish among academics. Presumption is that national level incentives put pressure on researchers to increase quantity of publishing at the expense of quality. In Finland publications have been a criterion in the government's basic funding model for universities since 2007. We analysed national personnel and publication data on Finnish universities, and found that the average publication productivity among Finnish university staff has not increased from 1998 to 2016. We also looked at the Web of Science publications in 1998-2014, and found that publication productivity of academics is not exceptionally high in Finland, compared to Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Citation impact has not remarkably decreased in Finland compared to the other Nordic countries. In our view, the experience of pressure to publish is also, and perhaps primarily, due to competition for research funding and academic positions partaken by an increasing number of researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of universities to efficiently produce high-standard knowledge has become an important goal in science policies of many developed countries. Thus, many countries nowadays steer universities based on performance monitoring and competition. This article analyzes the connection between the competitiveness of the university funding environment and research performance in five OECD countries in 1987-2006. Besides funding, other science policy factors are analyzed using the framework of four state steering models. Results indicate that the university funding environment has become more competitive in all the compared countries, but the extent and pace of this development varies. Countries also differ in relation to steering models but all have employed policy elements typical of at least two models. In terms of competitive funding environment and research performance, there is no straightforward relationship between the two. With reference to the state steering models, the most traditional model which emphasizes university independence from the state seems to be the most beneficial to research performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]