Science indicators and science patterns in Europe

Abstract

a b s t r a c tIn this communication we perform an analysis of European science, investigating the way countries are joined in clusters according to their similarity. An extremely clear pattern arises, suggesting that geographical and cultural factors strongly influence the scientific fabric of these countries. Although it is seen that one of the major factors behind Science in Europe is, apparently, geographical proximity, bilateral cooperation between countries cannot fully account for the respective similarity. Long-term policies, planning and investment are also visible in the results.

The competitive advantage of nations: An application to academia

“…Almeida et al (2009) conducted a similar cluster analysis, although they based their analysis on citations rather than publications and included European countries only. They concluded that geography was the major factor explaining similarities in research profiles between countries.…”

“…The main determinants put forward include country size, level of economic development (GDP or GDP per capita) (May, 1997;King, 2004;Rousseau and Rousseau, 1998;Inonu, 2003), financial investments (public expenditure for R&D) (May, 1997;King, 2004;Zhou and Leydesdorff, 2006;FWF, 2007), competitive promotion of basic research such as knowledge infrastructure (for instance, the example of CERN would explain Switzerland's success for publications in physics), and incentive structures within research institutions (Almeida et al, 2009). These determinants centre on selected economic and institutional considerations, and the literature has not, to date, presented a comprehensive structured model that could be used in the interpretation of a country's academic competitiveness.…”

A general framework for describing diversity within systems and similarity between systems with applications in informetrics

“…These profiles reveal interesting aspects of a country's research landscape and its strategies and preferences in science policy and organization (Zhang et al 2011). The disciplinary structure of science for individual countries determines how resources and funds are distributed over disciplines and are influenced by culture, political history and geography (Almeida et al 2009). …”

Publisher’s note

“…Cities in New Zealand most intensively collaborate with Australia. Europe shows the most complex picture, because in European countries, linguistic ties significantly influence international collaborations in science, with dominance of English (Almeida, Pais, & Formosinho, 2009;Thelwall, Tang, & Price, 2003). The two main scientific actors in Europe are Germany and the United Kingdom.…”