The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has met 87% of its performance targets for the 2012/13 fiscal year, achieving a clean audit for the eleventh consecutive year, while continuing to advance several flagship national research studies, CEO Professor Olive Shisana said on Friday.

The partially State-funded council increased the number of peer-reviewed articles its staff published in accredited scientific journals from an average of 1.68 publications per senior researcher in 2011/12 to 1.77 articles per senior researcher in the 2012/13 fiscal period.

Speaking at the council’s yearly results presentation, in Pretoria, Shisana said this was a critical performance indicator of a “knowledge-producing” organisation, such as the HSRC, which worked towards adding to the body of human knowledge.

“We exceeded our targets for the number of published peer-reviewed journal articles, recognised scholarly books and scholarly book-chapters, but didn’t meet our target for the number of policy briefs published. Nonetheless, we did exceptionally well,” she commented.

In the past financial year, 65 senior HSRC scientists published 115 peer-reviewed journal articles, eight scholarly books and 39 scholarly book chapters, as well as 30 client research reports, besides others.

In terms of its capacity-development performance, the council trained 41 master’s interns, and 42 doctoral and post-doctoral interns, exceeding its targets in this regard.

“This means that we are producing new scientists to work in the public, scientific and private sectors,” Shisana noted.

The HSRC continued to advance several research projects over the year, including the fourth South African National HIV, Behaviour and Health Survey and the South African Social Attitudes Survey, while also conducting the first South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey over the period, all of which contributed toward government policy formulation.

The council also reported a “reinvigoration” of humanities-related research that was aimed at supporting evidence-informed policy-making.

“We have also established a dedicated research data management centre, which brings together cross-cutting support functions to ensure that data-intensive research is managed cost-effectively,” she said.

During the year, the HSRC continued to receive global recognition for various aspects of its research activities, including being appointed a collaborating centre on HIV prevention research and policy by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids).

This involved working with the UNAids country office, in South Africa, to improve the monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the epidemic at national and provincial levels.

Shisana added that government’s March appointment of the HSRC as an incubator for South Africa’s participation in the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) Think Tank, further confirmed its role in global research and policy formulation.

Working closely with the departments of Higher Education and Training and International Relations and Cooperation, the think tank’s primary role was to conduct evidence-based policy analysis aimed at informing the long-term strategy of the Brics countries through consultation with academics, policymakers and nongovernmental organisations.

Shisana also announced on Friday that the HRSC, which secured some 50% of its funding from Parliament and the remainder from external grants, received R188-million in funding from government for the 2012/13 fiscal year and around R208-million from external sources.

Of the R396-million total revenue achieved, the council posted total expenditure of R400-million.

“This implies that we have a very good absorption rate, and means that if you give us money, we will [appreciate] it and use all of it,” she noted.