Bibliometric Analysis Asia-Pacific Research Area ... - JuSER

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1. Publication Analysis on a Country Basis
1.1 An International Comparison of Publication Activity
The first chapter of this analysis focuses on the publication activity of all of the countries. We will
try to provide an answer to the question of which of the countries analysed from the Asia-Pacific
research area 1 has undergone an above-average development over the past number of years.
For this purpose, the charts and graphs that follow will take a look at the total publication output
of these countries (without breaking the results down according to discipline), as will the
development of cooperations in these countries as represented by the number of copublications.
Publications 1992 - 2007
Total 15 439 935
(co-publications are counted more than once)
Japan
8.15%
China
3.99%
South Korea
1.69%
New Zealand
0.56%
Australia
2.90%
Taiwan
1.19%
Singapore
0.44%
Iran
0.27%
Thailand
0.18%
Malaysia
0.11%
Indonesia
0.05%
Vietnam
0.04%
USA
41.01%
EU-27
39.41%
Figure 1: Proportion of publications in selected countries for the period 1992-2007
As an introduction, the publication output of the 12 countries analysed is shown in relation to the
output of the 27 EU member states 2 (EU-27) and the USA over the same period. Figure 1
shows a pie chart, where the output of each country (or groups of countries in the case of the
EU-27) is shown as a percentage of the total output of all 14 units detailed above. As expected,
the majority of publications come from the EU-27 and the USA (39.4 % and 41.0 %,
respectively). Of the countries studied, the largest proportion come from Japan (8.2 %), China
(4.0 %) and Australia (2.9 %).
While Figure 1 provides an overall impression of the publication activity in the different
countries, the figures that follow take a look at the production of articles over time. China is
characterised by a high increase in the production of articles. Its growth is almost exponential
and leaves all of the other research nations shown trailing behind. In 1992, China started off
with around 9,300 publications, which was far less than Australia. In 2007, China boasted
almost 100,000 publications, which saw it pass out research nations such as Japan (around
90,000 articles) and almost catch up with Germany (approximately 105,000 publications).
1 This study focuses on the following countries: Australia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, New
Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
2 EU-27 is defined for the entire period under review as the EU member states as of January 2007.
1