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A two-dimensional approach to evaluate the scientific production of countries (case study: the basic sciences)

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Abstract

The quantity and quality of scientific output of the topmost 50 countries in the four basic sciences (agricultural & biological sciences, chemistry, mathematics, and physics & astronomy) are studied in the period of the recent 12 years (1996–2007). In order to rank the countries, a novel two-dimensional method is proposed, which is inspired by the H-index and other methods based on quality and quantity measures. The countries data are represented in a “quantity–quality diagram”, and partitioned by a conventional statistical algorithm into three clusters, members of which are rather the same in all of the basic sciences. The results offer a new perspective on the global positions of countries with regards to their scientific output.

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Notes

  1. Further information available at: http://www.scimagojr.com.

  2. Quoted in “Nation Master” website, available at: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peopop-people-population.

  3. The population data for years 2006 and 2007 are supposed to be nearly the same as that of year 2005.

  4. In Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, the global average corresponds to PPPm = 1 and CPPm = 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Ave, Tehran, Iran

    Ammar Nejati

  2. Amirkabir University of Technology, 464 Hafez Ave, Tehran, Iran

    Seyyed Mehdi Hosseini Jenab

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  1. Ammar Nejati
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  2. Seyyed Mehdi Hosseini Jenab
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Correspondence to Seyyed Mehdi Hosseini Jenab.

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Nejati, A., Hosseini Jenab, S.M. A two-dimensional approach to evaluate the scientific production of countries (case study: the basic sciences). Scientometrics 84, 357–364 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0103-1

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