Abstract
A new indicator, called thepublication potential, is proposed to measure scientific strength of different countries. The indicator is based onSCI author counts and publication frequency distributions. Not depending on national statistical reports, it avoids the ambiguities of statistical definitions and methods, thereby providing a solid ground for cross-national comparisons. Publication based and statistical survey data for 34 countries are compared and some of the most conspicuous discrepancies are pinpointed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Unesco, Division of Statistics on Science and Technology—Office of Statistics,Current Surveys and Research in Statistics, Statistics on Science and Technology, Unesco, Paris, 1982.
OECD,Science and Technology Indicators, Resources Devoted to R&D, OECD, Paris, 1984.
National Science Board, National Science Foundation,Science Indicators 1982. An Analysis of the State of U. S. Science, Engineering, and Technology, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1983.
D. de SOLLA PRICE,Little Science-Big Science, Columbia University Press, New York and London, 4th ed., 1971.
I. S. SPIEGEL-RÖSING, Journal authors as an indicator of scientific manpower: A methodological study using data for the two Germanies and Europe,Science Studies, 2 (1972) 337.
H. INHABER, Distribution of world science,Geoforum, 6 (1976) 231.
E. G. KOVACH, Country trends in scientific productivity, In:ISI's Who Is Publishing in Science. An International Directory of Scientists and Scholars in the Life, Physical, Social, and Applied Sciences, Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia, PA, 1978, pp. 33–40.
F. NARIN, P. CARPENTER, The adequacy of the Science Citation Index (SCI) as an indicator of international scientific activity,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 32 (1981) 430.
A. J. LOTKA, The frequency distribution of scientific productivity,Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 16 (1926) 317.
J. VLACHY, Frequency distributions of scientific performance. A bibliography of Lotka's law and related phenomena,Scientometrics, 1 (1978) 109.
L. H. MANTELL, On laws of special abilities and the production of scientific literature,Annals of Documentation, 17 (1966) 8.
A. SCHUBERT, W. GLÄNZEL, A dynamic look at a class of skew distributions. A model with scientometric applications,Scientometrics, 6 (1984) 149.
A. SCHUBERT, W. GLÄNZEL, Prompt nuclear analysis literature: A cumulative advantage approach,Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Articles, 82/1 (1984) 215.
A. SCHUBERT, A. TELCS, Estimation of publication potential in 51 US states based on the frequency distribution of scientific productivity,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, to be published.
W. GLÄNZEL, A. TELCS, A. SCHUBERT, Characterization by truncated moments and its application to Pearson-type distributions,Zeitschrift für Warscheinlichkeitstheorie und verwandte Gebiete, 66 (1984) 173.
A. TELCS, W. GÄNZEL, A. SCHUBERT, Characterization and statistical test using truncated expectations for a class of Skew distributions,Mathematical Social Sciences, 10 (1985) 169.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schubert, A., Telcs, A. Publication potential—An indicator of scientific strength for cross-national comparisons. Scientometrics 9, 231–238 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017246
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017246