{"id":182941,"date":"2025-10-28T10:33:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=182941"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:57","slug":"talent-isnt-leaking-away-top-scientists-come-and-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/10\/28\/talent-isnt-leaking-away-top-scientists-come-and-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Talent isn\u2019t leaking away: top scientists come and go"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past fifteen years, more scientists have come to the Netherlands than have left, according to the Rathenau Institute. There seems to be no sign of a brain drain.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBart Huijser<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The departure of top Dutch scientists sometimes sparks fierce debate: we\u2019re driving them away, critics claim. And: do the best foreign researchers even want to come here anymore?<\/p>\n

Such discussions often arise<\/a> when universities shift their HR policies to place less emphasis on publishing in prestigious journals, and more on tasks like teaching, leadership, industry collaboration and science communication. This approach is known as<\/a> \u2018recognition and rewards\u2019, and critics sometimes fear that the Netherlands is losing focus on scientific quality and jeopardising its international standing. The same concerns crop up<\/a> around open science: why prioritise publishing in open-access journals if paywalled journals do more for your academic reputation?<\/p>\n

But according to a new report<\/a> by the Rathenau Institute, there\u2019s little to worry about. Researchers do come and go, but both in terms of quantity and quality, the inflow and outflow appear to be fairly balanced \u2013 at least, in the years between 2008 and 2023. That was before the government introduced its budget cuts.<\/p>\n

The Rathenau Institute bases its findings on the Web of Science database. This shows how many articles scientists publish and which institutions they\u2019re affiliated with at the time. It makes it possible to track researchers\u2019 movements. The database also indicates how often those articles are cited by others.<\/p>\n

Numbers<\/h2>

First, the numbers. Slightly more scientists came to Dutch universities and research institutions than left: 17 percent versus 14 percent. This is comparable to other countries.<\/p>\n

Of those who come to the Netherlands, 29 percent leave again within a few years. The reverse is also true: a quarter of the researchers who leave the Netherlands return within a few years.<\/p>\n

During the fifteen-year period studied, the share of foreign researchers at Dutch universities grew from 40 to 48 percent. The technical sciences in particular attracted many: in that field, 40 percent more researchers came to the Netherlands than left.<\/p>\n

Quality<\/h2>

The quality of migrating researchers also matters. It would be unfortunate if all the top scientists went abroad and the Netherlands only got less accomplished ones in return. That wouldn\u2019t be a good trade.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not what the data show. To assess the quality of researchers, the Rathenau Institute looked at their \u2018citation score\u2019 \u2013 a commonly used metric for the impact of scientific articles. The logic is: the more often peers cite your article, the more influential your research is.<\/p>\n

Here, those who come and those who go don\u2019t differ much \u2013 generally speaking. The picture varies slightly by discipline. Dutch agricultural scientists already have a high \u2018citation impact\u2019, so newcomers in that field almost inevitably score lower than those who leave. In technical sciences, by contrast, the incoming researchers actually scored higher in 2023. That pattern wasn\u2019t evident in earlier years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the Rathenau Institute doesn\u2019t carry out these analyses for the social sciences or humanities, as these fields are underrepresented in the Web of Science data.<\/p>\n

The institute calls this a baseline measurement. The international mobility of scientists might shift due to \u2018growing geopolitical unrest\u2019, speculate the report\u2019s authors. And \u2018recognition and rewards\u2019 \u2013 the HR policy in which scientific excellence is no longer the sole benchmark \u2013 may still have an impact.<\/p>\n

But compared to Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland, the Netherlands is currently about average. France attracted the fewest researchers, while small Switzerland attracted the most. Relatively few scientists left Sweden, while the United Kingdom saw more departures.<\/p>\n\n\t

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