Monge-Najera J, Nielsen V "The countries and languages that dominate biological research at the beginning of the 21(st) century " REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL 53 (1-2): 283-294 MAR-JUN 2005

[Eugene Garfield]

J. Monge-Najera : rbt at cariari.ucr.ac.cr
V. Nielsen : vnielsen at cariari.ucr.ac.cr

Title: The countries and languages that dominate biological research at the
beginning of the 21(st) century

Author(s): Monge-Najera J, Nielsen V

Source:    REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL 53 (1-2): 283-294 MAR-JUN 2005

Language: English
Cited References: 14      Times Cited: 0

Abstract:
Traditionally, studies of scientific productivity are biased in two ways:
they are based on Current Contents, an index centered in British and
American journals, and they seldom correct for population size, ignoring
the relative effort that each society places in research. We studied
national productivity for biology using a more representative index, the
Biological Abstracts, and analyzed both total and relative productivity.
English dominates biological publications with 87% (no other individual
language reaches 2%). If the USA is considered a region by itself, it
occupies the First place in per capita production of biology papers, with
at least twice the productivity of either Asia or Europe. Canada, Oceania
and Latin America occupy an intermediate position, The global output of
scientific papers is dominated by Europe, USA, Japan, Canada, China and
India. When corrected for population size, the countries with the greatest
productivity of biology papers are the Nordic nations, Israel, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Australia, Saint Lucia and Montserrat. The predominance of
English as the language of biological research found in this study shows a
continuation of the trend initiated around the year 1900. The large
relative productivity of the USA reflects the importance that American
society gives to science as the basis for technological and economic
development, but the USA's share of total scientific output has decreased
from 44% in 1983 to 34% in 2002, while there is a greater growth of science
in India, Japan and Latin America, among others. The increasing share
obtained by China and India may reflect a recent change in attitude towards
funding science. The leadership of Nordic nations, Israel, Switzerland,
Netherlands and Australia can be explained by cultural attitude.
Apparently, a positive trend is emerging in Latin America, where Chile
improved its ranking in per capita productivity but Argentina, Costa Rica,
Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba fell. Nevertheless, the most productive countries
in total number of papers are Brazil, Mexico and Argentina: large countries
with a long tradition of funding scientific research.

Addresses: Monge-Najera J (reprint author), Univ Costa Rica, Revista Biol
Trop, San Jose, 2060 Costa Rica
Univ Costa Rica, Revista Biol Trop, San Jose, 2060 Costa Rica
Univ Costa Rica, Escuela Biol, San Jose, 2060 Costa Rica

E-mail Addresses: rbt at cariari.ucr.ac.cr, vnielsen at cariari.ucr.ac.cr

Publisher: REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL, UNIVERSIDAD DE COSTA RICA CIUDAD
UNIVERSITARIA, SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA
Subject Category: BIOLOGY
IDS Number: 974LO
ISSN: 0034-7744


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