Evaluation of the scientific production of countries by a resource-scaled two-dimensional approach

Abstract

The relative positions of country groups in the world of science are studied via application of a two-dimensional mapping method that is based on quantity and quality indicators of the scientific production as peer-reviewed articles. To obtain such indicators, different influential effects such as the background global trends, temporal fluctuations, disciplinary characteristics, and mainly, the effect of countries resources have been taken into account. Fifty countries with the highest scientific production are studied in 12 years (1996-2007). A common clustering algorithm is used to detect groups of co-evolving countries in the two-dimensional map, and thereby countries are classified into four major groups based on their relative positions in the map. The final results are contrasted with a non-resource-scaled map by considering some exemplary countries that have drastically different positions in the two maps.