DESPITE very low funding, the volume and quality of Irish universities' research output has increased substantially since the early 1980s, according to the Circa report.
Using a database developed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the consultants studied 35,000 articles published by Irish university researchers in key international science, social sciences and humanities journals between 1981 and 1993.
During this period, the increase in Irish research output - of which a growing proportion came from universities - was 9 per cent greater than the world average, and 16 per cent greater than the UK.
These figures under represent the Irish contribution, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, since the ISI database does not include books. In terms of total output, the Circa report says, the two "major players" appear to be Trinity College and UCD.
To measure the quality of publications, the database records how many times articles are cited in subsequent high quality publications. This shows most colleges' citation rates have risen from relatively low levels to near the world average, with only the University of Limerick falling off since 1988.
The Circa report singles out TCD's quality performance 8 per cent above the world average in the period 1989-93 - as a "significant factor" in raising the overall figures for Irish universities.
The ISI database recorded that in terms of articles cited, arts and humanities recorded the highest quality output in 1989-93, well ahead of the world average. Four more subject areas were above the world average: physics, chemistry and earth science; agriculture, biology and environmental science; behavioural and social sciences; and life science. Clinical medicine was below expected citation rates in the early 1980s, and even lower for 1989-93.
On the basis of these data, the Circa report identifies the various universities' research strengths. UCD's strongest areas were literature, language and linguistics, history and medical subjects.
TCD was particularly strong in animal and plant life, literature, applied physics, and molecular biology and genetics. UCC's strengths were political science and history, food, materials, sociology and chemistry.
UCG was particularly strong in literature and history; Dublin City University in biotechnology/applied microbiology, mechanics and chemistry; and the University of Limerick in physical chemistry/ chemical physics.