Countries Compared by scientific productivity
06/19/2018 01:20:00
   ავტორი : ალექსანდრე თარხან-მოურავი.

How “scientific” countries are, relative to each other? The perceptions and stereotypes may vary widely, but modern scientific databases allow for quantitative comparisons. One such database is Scopus, which includes over 22,000 active scientific, peer-reviewed journals. It allows counting scientific articles authored (or co-authored) by scientists working in a particular country, and seeing how cited those articles are.


One way to assess a country’s scientific productivity is to see how many times all the papers by scientists from the country have been cited, totally (the number of Citations - C). Of course, if we want to see how “scientifically productive” a country’s population is on average, these total citation counts have then to be divided by the country’s population P. Just because Brazil produces more scientific papers than Iceland, doesn’t mean an average Brazilian produces more papers than an average Icelander. Thus, we get Cpc: Citations per capita = Citations divided by population = C/P.


To make the numbers more telling, I then normalize the Citations per capita - namely, divide them by the global average value. So, the final indicator - the Normalized Citations per capita - NCpc shows how scientifically productive a country’s population is relative to the world as a whole. For instance, Finland's NCpc of 10.0 shows that an average person living in Finland is ten times more scientifically productive than an average human. Below you can see 198 countries and territories (192 UN members plus Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Palestine, Puerto Rico and Vatican) ordered by their scientific productivity (based on articles published in 2015-2017).

 

rank Country NCPC rank Country NCPC rank Country NCPC rank Country NCPC
1 Iceland 20.4 51 Fiji 1.83 101 Ukraine 0.29 151 Bolivia 0.076
2 Monaco 18.5 52 Latvia 1.80 102 Bhutan 0.28 152 Tanzania 0.075
3 Switzerland 18.2 53 Saudi Arabia 1.71 103 Congo 0.28 153 Venezuela 0.072
4 Denmark 15.3 54 Japan 1.68 104 Suriname 0.26 154 Guinea-Bissau 0.072
5 Sweden 11.9 55 Saint Lucia 1.57 105 Mexico 0.26 155 Cambodia 0.072
6 Singapore 11.8 56 Serbia 1.53 106 Namibia 0.25 156 Nepal 0.068
7 Netherlands 10.7 57 Bahrain 1.45 107 Mongolia 0.25 157 Liberia 0.063
8 Norway 10.3 58 Chile 1.40 108 Moldova 0.23 158 Tuvalu 0.062
9 Finland 10.0 59 Georgia 1.35 109 Bahamas 0.23 159 Equatorial Guinea 0.062
10 Australia 10.0 60 San Marino 1.32 110 Azerbaijan 0.22 160 Kiribati 0.060
11 Luxembourg 9.85 61 Tonga 1.27 111 Samoa 0.22 161 Philippines 0.057
12 Belgium 8.54 62 Malaysia 1.27 112 Morocco 0.21 162 Burkina Faso 0.057
13 Ireland 7.96 63 Uruguay 1.19 113 Libya 0.21 163 Mali 0.056
14 Estonia 7.76 64 Bulgaria 1.12 114 Ecuador 0.21 164 Togo 0.053
15 Liechtenstein 7.66 65 Armenia 1.08 115 Antigua and Barbuda 0.20 165 Nicaragua 0.049
16 New Zealand 7.58 66 Dominica 1.05 116 Sri Lanka 0.20 166 Guinea 0.047
17 Austria 7.55 67 United Arab Emirates 1.02 117 Papua New Guinea 0.19 167 Nigeria 0.046
18 United Kingdom 7.43 68 Romania 1.01 118 Benin 0.18 168 Ethiopia 0.045
19 Canada 7.05 69 Lebanon 1.00 119 Solomon Islands 0.18 169 Bangladesh 0.044
20 Hong Kong 6.84 70 Gambia 0.99 120 Peru 0.18 170 Sudan 0.044
21 Vatican 6.83 71 Iran 0.99 121 Algeria 0.18 171 El Salvador 0.044
22 Israel 6.60 72 Tunisia 0.89 122 Cuba 0.18 172 Guatemala 0.043
23 Slovenia 6.33 73 Oman 0.77 123 Albania 0.17 173 Indonesia 0.039
24 Seychelles 5.67 74 Puerto Rico 0.75 124 Rwanda 0.16 174 Mozambique 0.037
25 Cyprus 5.57 75 South Africa 0.73 125 Kenya 0.15 175 Afghanistan 0.036
26 Germany 5.15 76 Turkey 0.71 126 Guyana 0.15 176 Sao Tome and Principe 0.035
27 Portugal 4.86 77 Macedonia 0.65 127 Swaziland 0.15 177 Yemen 0.034
28 United States 4.71 78 China 0.61 128 Zambia 0.15 178 Dominican Republic 0.033
29 Macau 4.64 79 Montenegro 0.61 129 Nauru 0.14 179 East Timor 0.029
30 Italy 4.53 80 Panama 0.57 130 Ghana 0.14 180 Honduras 0.027
31 Spain 4.39 81 Argentina 0.56 131 India 0.13 181 Central African Republic 0.027
32 France 4.32 82 Russia 0.55 132 Cameroon 0.13 182 Madagascar 0.026
33 Malta 4.17 83 Kuwait 0.54 133 Pakistan 0.13 183 Niger 0.025
34 Qatar 4.12 84 Botswana 0.53 134 Maldives 0.13 184 Haiti 0.024
35 Greece 3.89 85 Jordan 0.51 135 Iraq 0.12 185 Myanmar 0.019
36 Czech Republic 3.82 86 Brazil 0.50 136 Kazakhstan 0.12 186 Djibouti 0.016
37 Federated States of Micronesia 3.70 87 Palestine 0.47 137 Sierra Leone 0.12 187 Uzbekistan 0.013
38 Saint Kitts and Nevis 3.67 88 Costa Rica 0.46 138 Uganda 0.11 188 Tajikistan 0.012
39 Barbados 3.34 89 Andorra 0.45 139 Vietnam 0.11 189 Angola 0.011
40 South Korea 3.08 90 Mauritius 0.41 140 Cape Verde 0.11 190 Comoros 0.010
41 Taiwan 2.81 91 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.40 141 Malawi 0.10 191 Eritrea 0.010
42 Belize 2.73 92 Belarus 0.40 142 Laos 0.10 192 Mauritania 0.009
43 Hungary 2.50 93 Jamaica 0.39 143 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 0.096 193 Burundi 0.009
44 Croatia 2.47 94 Vanuatu 0.36 144 Senegal 0.093 194 Somalia 0.008
45 Grenada 2.35 95 Marshall Islands 0.35 145 Paraguay 0.090 195 North Korea 0.007
46 Lithuania 2.30 96 Trinidad and Tobago 0.34 146 Ivory Coast 0.088 196 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0.005
47 Brunei 2.20 97 Colombia 0.32 147 Zimbabwe 0.085 197 Turkmenistan 0.005
48 Slovakia 2.19 98 Gabon 0.32 148 Kyrgyzstan 0.079 198 Chad 0.004
49 Palau 1.93 99 Thailand 0.31 149 Syria 0.078      
50 Poland 1.91 100 Egypt 0.31 150 Lesotho 0.077