Scientometric research assessment in the developing world: A tribute to Michael J. Moravcsik from the perspective of the twenty-first century

Proceeding from Moravcsik’s paradigmatic ideas of how to build indigenous capability and sustainable science systems in developing countries, we attempted to further focus on the peculiarities of the twenty-first century and the new challenges of globalisation. In doing so, we selected three particular topics deemed relevant in this context: increase of international visibility and reception by the international community, international collaboration and the participation in research in emerging fields. We analysed these issues using the example of 16 developing countries and emerging economies. We found that several countries achieve an impressive citation impact with a considerable share of highly cited papers. The high impact proved to be associated with international collaboration. We also found two extreme situations in international collaboration, both of which might form challenges in building sustainable national science systems and research structures. Research activity in emerging research topics, finally, showed the presence of developing countries in highly topical research and their capability to contribute also to newest research trends.