Skip to main content
Log in

Use of publication lists to study scientific production and strategies of scientists in developing countries

Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A bibliometric study using the lists of publications and work of 207 scientists working in Asia, Latin America and Africa was conducted. Number of authored and co-authored articles published in scientific journals and bulletins, conference papers, books, chapters of books, reports were taken into consideration to measure the total scientific output. Local vs. international production was also determined by scientific fields, geographic areas, sexe and language of publication. Co-authorship studies were also used to particularly measure the degree of collaboration and dependance of Developing Countries' (DC) scientists on foreign co-authors. An analysis of the references used (age, origins) was also made. Conclusions drawn concern the comparatively specific nature of science produces by DC's researcher. Partly given the importance of the scientific production published in local journals, the inadequacy of international databases to study Dc science is confirmed. Most of the DC scientists published in both national and international journals. They often cite their colleagues from the developed countries but their own work being less “visible” is seldom cited.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes and references

  1. E. Garfield, Mapping science in the third world,Science and Public Policy, (Jun 1983) 112–127.

  2. J.D. Frame, F. Narin, M.P. Carpenter, The distribution of world science,Social Studies of Science, 7 (1977) 501–516.

    Google Scholar 

  3. J. Blickenstaff, M.J. Moravcsik, Scientific output in the third world,Scientometrics, 4 (2) (1982) 135–169.

    Google Scholar 

  4. C.H. Davis, 1983. Institutional sectors of “mainstream” science production in sub-Saharan Africa, 1970–1979: a quantitative analysis,Scientometrics, 5 (3) (1983) 163–175.

    Google Scholar 

  5. S. Arunachalam, S. Markanday, 1981. Science in the middle-level countries: a bibliometric analysis of scientific journals of Australia, Canada, India, and Israel,Journal of Information Science, 3 (1981) 13–26.

    Google Scholar 

  6. M. Krauskopf, R. Pessot, R. Vicuna, Science in Latin America: how much and along what lines?Scientometrics, 10 (3–4) (1986) 199–206.

    Google Scholar 

  7. M. Krauskopf, R. Pessot, Actividad cientifica en Chile, publicationes registradas durante el periodo 1980–1982.Archivos de Biologica y Medicina Experimentales, 16 (1983) 17–27.

    Google Scholar 

  8. A. Martinez-Palomo, H. Arechiga, La investigacion biomedica en Mexico. I. La investigacion basica,Gaceta Médica de México. 115 (1979) 65–70.

    Google Scholar 

  9. C.M. Morel, R.L.M. Morel, Estudo sobre a produçao cientifica brasileira segundo os datos do Institute Scientific Information (ISI). Um novo instrumento para a analise de ciência brasileira.Ciência da Informaçao, Rio de Janeiro 7 (1978) 79–83.

    Google Scholar 

  10. M.J. MOravcsik, (ed.) Strengthening the coverage of third world science, the bibliographic indicators of the third world's contribution to science. Deliberations, conclusions and initiatives of an ad hoc international task force for assessing the scientific output of the third world. Jul 1985, In: Final Report of the Philadelphia Workshop, Feb 1986. Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Oregon 97403, USA.

  11. The editorial practise of certain mainstream journals, including some of the leading ones, is not always very selective.Packer andMurdoch asserted that during the 1963–1973 period,The Bulletin of Entomological Society of America, by principle, and insofar as possible, printed all the articles it received. During that decade only 4% of the articles submitted to the journal ofEconomic Entomology, theAnnals of the Entomological Society of America andEnvironmental Entomology were rejected. SeeJ.S. Packer, W.P. Murdoch, Publication of Scientific Papers in the Journals of the Entomological Society of America, an Eleven Year Review,Bull. Entomol. Soc. Am., 20 (1974) 249–253.

    Google Scholar 

  12. S. Arunachalam, Why is Indian science mediocre?Science Today, (Feb. 1979) 8–9.

  13. S. Arunachalam, Scientific journals in India, their relevance to international science,Science Today, (Mar 1979) 45–50.

  14. S. Arunachalam, K. Manorama, The status of scientific journals of India as seen through science citation index,Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 47 (Jul 1988) 359–367.

    Google Scholar 

  15. See note 12S. Arunachalam, Why is Indian science mediocre?Science Today, (Feb. 1979) page 8.

  16. S. Arunachalam, K.G. Garg, A small country in a world of big science,Scientometrics, 8 (1985) 301–313.

    Google Scholar 

  17. L. Vehlo, 1986. The meaning of citation in the context of a scientifically peripheral country,Scientometrics, 9 (1986) 71–89.

    Google Scholar 

  18. SeeS.M. Lawani, Citation analysis and the quality of scientific productivity,BioScience, 27 (1) (Jan 1977) 26–31. In this publicationLawani also provides a per country rundown of the 829 journals that have an above-average impact according to theSCI. The USA is the leader (60% of the titles), followed by Great Britain and the Netherlands. There is only one DC journal (Revista Mexicana de Astronomia, published in Mexico) on the list.

    Google Scholar 

  19. J.D. Frame, Problems in the use of literature-based S & D indicators in developing countries. In: Science and Technology Indicators for Development;H. Morita-Lou, (Ed.) Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 1985, pp. 117–121.

    Google Scholar 

  20. S. Arunachalam, The links between mainstream science and journals of periphery,Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 47 (Jun 1988) 307–314.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Y. Chatelin, R. Arvanitis, Les stratégies scientifiques et le développement (sols et agricultures des régions chaudes). ORSTOM, Paris, 139 pp. See alsoY. Chatelin, R. Arvanitis, Research on soils and agriculture of LDCs: the balance between international and regional trends,Social Studies of Science, (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  22. L.A. Lomnitz, M.W. Rees, L. Cameo, Publication and referencing patterns in a Mexican institute,Social Studies of Science, 17 (1988) 115–133.

    Google Scholar 

  23. The Journal of the Science Society of Thailand is also indexed in theSCI of the ISI. A weaker correlation was noted between the number of publications appearing in the latter's journal and the number of abstracts presented at the annual symposium of the Science Society of Thailand by the various scientific institutes of Thailand. SeeY. Yuthavong, Bibliometric indicators of scientific activities in Thailand,Scientometrics, 9 (3–4) (1986) 139–143.

    Google Scholar 

  24. T.O. Eisemon, C. Davis, Publication Strategies of Scientists in Four Peripheral Asian Scientific Communities: Some Issues in the Measurements and Interpretation of Non Mainstream Science, In:P. Albach et al., (Eds),Scientific Development and Higher Education in Newly Industrialized Countries, New York and London, Praeger Publishers, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  25. L. Busch, W.B. Lacy, Science, agriculture and the politics of research. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 1983, pp. 303.

    Google Scholar 

  26. SeeE. Garfield,Current Contents, no. 17 (11 Apr 1977), no. 19 (29 May 1978), no. 23 (15 and 22 Aug 1983).

  27. D.J. de Solla Price, D de B. Beaver, Collaboration in an invisible college,American Psychologist 21 (1966) 1011–1018. See alsoD de B. Beaver, R. Rosen, Studies in scientific collaboration. Part I. The professional origins of scientific coauthorship.Scientometrics, 1 (1) (1978) 65–84.D de B. Beaver, R. Rosen, Studies in scientific collaboration. Part II. Scientific coauthorship, research productivity and visibility in the French scientific elite.Scientometrics, 1 (2) (1979) 133–149.D de B. Beaver, R. Rosen, 1979b. Studies in scientific collaboration. Part II1. Professionalization and natural history of modern scientific coauthorship.Scientometrics, 1 (3) (1979) 231–245.

    Google Scholar 

  28. See note no. 1.E. Garfield, Mapping science in the third world,Science and Public Policy, (Jun 1983) 112–127.

  29. J. Gaillard, Les chercheurs et l'émergence de communautés scientifiques nationales dans les Pays en Développement, Thèsede Doctorat STS, Centre STS/CNAM, Paris. See alsoJ. Gaillard, 1991. Scientists in the Third World, The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 1991, pp. 190.

    Google Scholar 

  30. SeeT.O. Eisemon, C. Davis, Mainstream and Non Mainstream Scientific Literature in four peripheral Asian scientific communities,Scientometrics, 15 (3–4) (1989) 215–239. The fields covered by these journals, viz., biology, biochemistry, computer sciences, electronics and physics, are however more directly related to international science.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Y. Rabkin, H. Inhaber, Science on the periphery: a citation study of three less developed countries,Scientometrics, 1 (1979) 261–274.

    Google Scholar 

  32. L. Vehlo, Science on the periphery: a study of the agricultural scientific community in a Brazilian University. PhD thesis, University of Sussex: 1985, 244–256.

  33. See note no. 32L. Vehlo, Science on the periphery: a study of the agricultural scientific community in a Brazilian University. PhD thesis, University of Sussex: 1985, page 247.

  34. Brown, cited byCrane, found that the percentage of references under 10 years old was the highest in publications on physics, lowest in biology and that physiology and chemistry came in between. SeeS. Crane, 1972,Invisible Colleges, University Press of Chicago, Chicago & London, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  35. See note no. 5..

    Google Scholar 

  36. See note no. 29..

    Google Scholar 

  37. See note no. 31. page 253.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gaillard, J. Use of publication lists to study scientific production and strategies of scientists in developing countries. Scientometrics 23, 57–73 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020914

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020914

Keywords

Navigation