How international is psychology?

Abstract

Psychology claims to be an international discipline. This claim has been based upon subjective estimates of attendance at international congresses, status reports from selected countries published within edited volumes, and a survey of the member countries of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) (Rosenzweig, 1992). However, to be truly international, the work of psychologists in countries around the world must be internationally disseminated. Systematic examination of international congress presentations and abstracts of published psychological literature indexed on widely available electronic databases (e.g., PsycLIT) provides a more objective means of documenting the international presence of psychology. In this article, counts by country were made of research contributions reported within PsycLIT and on the programs of International Congresses of Applied Psychology over the five years in which the congresses were held from 1982 to 1998. Analyses of these data revealed PsycLIT to be more international in scope than previously assumed—45% of its entries were by authors from outside the US. Coverage of research from developing countries was even more limited within PsycLIT (4.67%), but proportionally greater within international congresses (10%). PsycLIT entries not in the English language were found noticeably to have declined from approximately 12–14% levels in the 1980s to only about 6% in the 1990s. An index of the presence of psychology in each country, based upon presentations at IAAP congresses, memberships in international associations, and the extent of PsycLIT entries over the previous three decades, provided an objective, empirically‐based answer to the question ‘How International is Psychology?' This index indicated that psychology has a significant presence in 47 countries, a presence in another 22 countries, but minimal or no presence in 82 other countries. The meaning of these data for the discipline and ways in which psychology's worldwide presence might be strengthened and extended were discussed.

Action Research: A Missing Component in the Emergence of Social and Cross‐Cultural Psychology as a Fully Inter‐Connected Global Enterprise

“…For example, if China, India, Indonesia, and Taiwan disappeared, the global economy would grind to a halt, with catastrophic losses in the production of shoes, clothing, consumer goods, electronics, software, microchips, and product support. However, production as measured by international (read English language) journal articles is completely dominated and controlled by Western nations (Adair, Coelho, & Luna, 2002). Even Japan, a relatively major player among non‐Western nations, contributed only 1.9% of PsycLit entries in the 1990s.…”

Publication patterns in developmental psychology: Trends and social networks

“…However, he also identified that there was a decline in North American first authors from 70% in 1975 to only 54% in 1994. Similarly, Adair, Coelho, and Luna () found that 55% of authors had North America affiliations for the years 1990, 1994 and 1998. However, even with this apparent drop in North American domination, it is vital to assess the whole picture.…”

Psychology through international congresses: Differences between regions, countries, and congresses

“…Over the years the congress has continued to reflect its European roots but has become increasingly international since 1974, when it was first held outside Europe (in Montreal). Information obtained from the scientific programmes of ICAP since 1982 was used to provide an answer to the question, “How international is psychology?” (Adair, Coêlho, & Luna, 2002), and is employed for the in‐depth assessment of international congresses reported in this article.…”

“…When a new entrant emerges among leading contributors to international congresses it commands attention as a new base of psychology in the world. In the data employed to answer the question “How international is psychology?” (Adair et al, 2002), Iran was not on the list of 47 countries where psychology was deemed to have a significant presence, not among the top 20 countries in ICAP congress attendance from 1982 to 1998, and not on the list of countries with the most entries on PsycLIT from 1971 to 1999. Indeed, Iran averaged only about four presentations per ICAP across the five congresses from 1982 to the end of the century plus the ICP held in Montreal in 1996.…”