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RELATIVE INDICATORS OF PUBLICATION OUTPUT AND CITATION IMPACT OF EUROPEAN PHYSICS RESEARCH, 1978 - 1980 Schubert, W. Gl~inzel, T. Braun*) A. Information Science and Scientometrics Research Unit, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 7, 1361 Budapest, [[un9ary *) also the lnstitute of lnorganic and Analytical Chemistry, L. Edtvds University, P.O. Box123, 1443 Budapest, Hunga~~y Relative indicators of pbysics research in 25 European countries are presented. The benefits of using relational charts in displaying the indicators are stressed. 1. INTRODUCTION During the last decade, European physics research has been subjected to scientometric analysis by several authors ttsing various data bases[t--@ Recently, a series of indicators for assessing the publication output and citation impact of 107 countries in the major science fields as reflected in the Science Citation Index (SCI) data base of the Institute for Scientific Information, Phila- delphia, has been compiled [7]. As an extension of that study, the present paper spotlights scores of 25 European countries in physics. In building the indicators, a data base of more than 80,000 relevant papers (articles, notes, letters, and reviews) of the selected countries published in the 1978-- 1980 issues of about 400 physics journals (including earth-and-space sciences) has been compiled. Country assignment of papers was based on the mail address of the first author as indicated in the byline of the publications. Citations were counted on the citation tapes of the SCI data base in the two-year period after the publication of each paper. In table 1, the 25 countries are lJsted in alphabetical order together with their letter code being used in the figures and the number of papers published in the SCI covered physics journals in the three-year source period. Table 1 List of countries and their publication productivity in SCI covered physics journals, 1978-- 1980. Country Code No. of Country Code No. of Country Code No. of publ. publ. publ. Austria AUS 837 Greece GRE 510 Romania ROM 664 Belgium BEL 1 322 Hungary HUN 618 Spain SPA 877 Bulgaria BUL 388 Ireland IRE 209 Sweden SWE 1 449 Czeclaoslovakia CZE 1 316 Italy ITA 4 345 Switzerland SWI 2 598 Denmark DEN 1 147 Netherlands NET 3 004 Turkey TUR 140 Finland FIN 591 Norway NOR 612 UK GB 12 366 France FRA 10 779 Poland POL 2 804 USSR USSR 22 805 German DR GDR 1 786 Portugal POR 107 Yugoslavia YUG 544 Germany FR FRG 11 863 126 Czech. J. Phys. B 36 [1986]

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R E L A T I V E I N D I C A T O R S O F P U B L I C A T I O N O U T P U T A N D

C I T A T I O N I M P A C T O F E U R O P E A N P H Y S I C S R E S E A R C H ,

1978 - 1980

Schubert, W. Gl~inzel, T. Braun*) A.

Information Science and Scientometrics Research Unit, Library o f the Hungarian Academy o f Sciences, P.O. Box 7, 1361 Budapest, [[un9ary

*) also the lnstitute o f lnorganic and Analytical Chemistry, L. Edtvds University, P.O. Box123, 1443 Budapest, Hunga~~y

Relative indicators of pbysics research in 25 European countries are presented. The benefits of using relational charts in displaying the indicators are stressed.

1. INTRODUCTION

During the last decade, European physics research has been subjected to scientometric analysis by several authors ttsing various data bases [ t - -@ Recently, a series of indicators for assessing the publication output and citation impact of 107 countries in the major science fields as reflected in the Science Citation Index (SCI) data base of the Institute for Scientific Information, Phila- delphia, has been compiled [7]. As an extension of that study, the present paper spotlights scores of 25 European countries in physics. In building the indicators, a data base of more than 80,000 relevant papers (articles, notes, letters, and reviews) of the selected countries published in the 1978-- 1980 issues of about 400 physics journals (including earth-and-space sciences) has been compiled. Country assignment of papers was based on the mail address of the first author as indicated in the byline of the publications. Citations were counted on the citation tapes of the SCI data base in the two-year period after the publication of each paper.

In table 1, the 25 countries are lJsted in alphabetical order together with their letter code being used in the figures and the number of papers published in the SCI covered physics journals in the three-year source period.

Table 1

List of countries and their publication productivity in SCI covered physics journals, 1978-- 1980.

Country Code No. of Country Code No. of Country Code No. of publ. publ. publ.

Austria AUS 837 Greece GRE 510 Romania ROM 664 Belgium BEL 1 322 Hungary HUN 618 Spain SPA 877 Bulgaria BUL 388 Ireland IRE 209 Sweden SWE 1 449 Czeclaoslovakia CZE 1 316 Italy ITA 4 345 Switzerland SWI 2 598 Denmark DEN 1 147 Netherlands NET 3 004 Turkey TUR 140 Finland FIN 591 Norway NOR 612 UK GB 12 366 France FRA 10 779 Poland POL 2 804 USSR USSR 22 805 German DR GDR 1 786 Portugal POR 107 Yugoslavia YUG 544 Germany FR FRG 11 863

126 Czech. J. Phys. B 36 [1986]

A. Sehubert, VV. Gliinzel, T. Braun: Relative indicators . . .

2. M E T H O D S

Relative indicators [8] were bui l t in order to eliminate, as far as possible, the cross-national and cross-field biases encountered in the publicat ion and citat ion data, particularly, those originat- ing from the SCI data base. The publicat ion and citation counts of each country in physics research were related to internal reference standards within the countries and the field of physics.

The following indicators will be used:

Activity Index (AI )

A I -~ the share of physics research i n the country 's publicat ion output

the share of physics research in world's publicat ion output

A I characterizes the relative research effort a country devotes to physics research as reflected by the SCI covered publicat ion ch” A I = 1 indicates that the country 's relative research effort in physics corresponds precisely to the world average; A I > 1 indicates higher-than-average, A I < 1 lower-than-average relative effort.

Attractivity Index (AAI)

the share of physics in citations attracted by the country 's publications A A I

tbe share of physics in citations attracted by all publications of the world "

A A I characterizes the relative impact of a country 's publications in physics as reflected by the citations they attract. A A I = 1 indicates that the country 's relative citation impact in physics corresponds precisely to the world average; A A I > 1 indicates higher-than-average, A A I < 1 lower-than-average relative impact.

Mean Observed Citation Rate (MOCR)

Mean citat ion rate per paper, referred to as M O C R , characterizes the average citation impact the assessed publications actually show (citations were counted in the two-year period after publication). There is no a priori defined boundary dividing "h igh" and " low" citation rates; in out experience in most subfields of physics, using source and citation periods as mentioned, citation rates below 2 are to b• considered definitely low, and those above 3 high values.

Mean Expected Citation Rate (MECR)

The mean citation rate of the journal in which it was published can be attached to each item in the set of assessed publications as its expected citation rate (citations were counted in the two-year period after publication). The average of the expected citation rates over all papers in the set, referred to as M E C R , characterizes the average quality level of the publication channels (journals) used. Guiding values for telling "h igh" from " low" quality are the saine above.

Relative Citation Rate (RCR)

RCR = M O C R / M E C R characterizes the relative contr ibut ion of the given country to the quality of the journals used for publisbing its research output in physics. RCR ~ 1 indicates that the set of assessed papers are cited precisely at an average rate (as if all papers were an average paper of the corresponding journal): RCR > 1 indicates higher-than-average, RCR < 1 lower- than-average citat ion rate.

Al though all the indicators so far discussed can be used by themselves, their true appeal can be revealed by displaying them on two-dimensional relational eharts.

Czech. J. Pbys. B 36 [1986] 127

A. Schubert, W. Gliinzel, T. Braun: Relative indiy . . .

Relational charts are simple two-dimensional orthogonal diagrams with identically scaled axes displaying quantities such that the "main diagonal" (the straight line x = y) to represent some kind of "balanced" situation. Points above this diagonal are to be considered "higher class", those below, "lower class" in a sense depending on the actual content of the chart.

3. RESULTS A N D DISCUSSION

Relative indicators of European physics research are presented in the relational charts of figs. 1 and 2.

On the relational chart displaying A I vs. A A I (fig. 1), the vertical and horizontal dashed lines represent unit level (the world average) of relative research effort and impact in physics, respectively; points right to the vertical or above the horizontal dashed line reflect higher-than-average per- formances. However, for evaluative purposes, the most relevant question is "cost-effectivenes",

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Fig. 1. Relational chart displaying A A I vs. A1 in physics research. Fig. 2. Relational chart displaying M O C R vs. M E C R in physics research.

i.e., whether the effort devoted to physics research (namely, the publication effort) has sufticient return in terres of its impact (viz., in terms of citations). This is revealed in the relation chart by the position of the point relative to the main diagonal (solid line). For example, the citation " income" of Hungarian physics (HUN) is much higher than its share in publication"investments". Therefore, in spite of the fact that both its relative effort and impact are below the world average, Hungarian physics deserves distinguished attention and support. On the contrary, the relative citation impact of Rumanian physics (ROM), though higher than the world average, does hOt compensate for the even higher relative publication effort devoted to it. It is striking in fig. 1 that both A I and AA1 are outstandingly high in the USSR and Yugoslavia. It should, however, be stressed that these indicators only hint that physics might have the benefit of high priorities within these countries. In order to have a true comparative assessment of the impact of physics research, citation rates are also to be analysed.

One of the most conspicuous facts the relational chart displaying M O C R vs. M E C R (fig. 2) indicates is that the USSR, together with six other socialist countries typically uses lower quality

128 Czech. J. Phys. B 36 [1986]

A. Schubert, W. Gldnzel, T. Braun: Relative indicators . . .

journals for publishing their research output in physics. Thus, in spite of Hungary's success in overdoing several West-European countries in MOCR, a better publication strategy could, without doubt, substantially improve the impact of these countries' physics research. The quality of the publication channels (MECR) used by the other countries falls within a fairly narrow band, thus their relative performance is easy to judge in fig. 2.

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Fig. 3. Countries ranked by RCR.

To complete the assessment, countries ranked by RCR are presented in fig. 3.

Received 24. 6. 1985.

Referenees

[I] Chang K. H., Dieks D.: Ned. Tijd. Natuurk. 41 (1975) 28--32. [2] Cha~ ,~ . H., Dieks D.: Res. Pol. 5 (1975) 380--396. [3] Vlach~ 5?: Czech. J. Phys. B 29 (1979) 237--244. [4] Vlach~ J.: Czech. J. Phys. B 3 4 (1984) 891--894. [5] Braun T., Bujdos6 E.: Fiz. Szemle 30 (1980) 352--360. [6] Bujdos6 E., Braun T.: J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. 34 (1983) 150--155. [7] Braun T., Glfinzel W., Schubert A., Telcs A.: Facts and figures on the publication output

and citation impact of 107 countries as reflected in the ISI's SCI data base (1978--1980). International Workshop to Assess the Coverage of the Scientific Output of the Third World, Rockefe!ler Foundation, Philadelphia, 1985.

[8] Schubert A., Braun T.: Scientometrics 9 (1986) 283--293.

Czech. J. Phys. B 36 [1986] 129