WORLD SCIENCE IN 18 DISCIPLINARY AREAS - COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION OF THE PUBLICATION PATTERNS OF 48 COUNTRIES OVER THE PERIOD 1981-1992

In order to be able to develop indicators that can measure the scientific and technological productivity of a nation, it is helpful to have at one's command a prior purely descriptive global overview of how various nations stand with respect to each other with regard to world science, i.e., to dispose of a framework for the elaboration of future quantitative studies. ISI has recently made available a highly comprehensive multidisciplinary database (over 6 million bibliometric entries from 1981 to 1992) that is founded on top-echelon journals and that can form the basis of such a framework. We have in the present study defined a publication pattern per nation that reflects its interest and potential in 18 disciplines and compared the publication patterns of 48 nations by descriptive multivariate analysis, i.e., by measuring the distance between nations in the n-dimensional system. Proximity is a sign of similarity, distance of diversity. Three multivariate methods of distance measurement were used: a hierarchical classification, the distance of each nation from the centre of gravity of the system calculated by chi(2)-metrics (typicality of behaviour), a bi-plot of the chi(2)-distances of 46 countries with respect to two reference countries that highlights clusters of nations with similar behaviour. The resultant plots are open to interpretation by experts. We conclude that three factors, geographical proximity, culture, and economic development are the principal determinants of the publication patterns of nations.