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Language and Scientific Publication Statistics: a Note

Author

Listed:
  • Sandelin, Bo

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

  • Sarafoglou, Nikias

    (Mid-Sweden University)

Abstract

The number of contributions to scientific journals by authors from various OECD countries in 1998-2000 according to the commonly used ISI databases SSCI, A&HCI, and SCI Expanded is in focus. The number of contributions per million inhabitants is related to the main language of the country, the gross domestic product per capita and whether a country is a former socialist country or not. The social sciences, the arts and humanities, and the natural sciences are studied separately. It turns out that there is a tendency for a higher publication rate for English-language countries, slightly lower for countries with small languages, and even smaller for countries with large non-English languages. This is consistent with the hypotheses that there is a bias in the data bases from the ISI such that English-language journals tend to be overrepresented, that scholars from English-language countries write almost exclusively in English, and that scholars from other countries tend to publish less in English and more in their domestic language the larger is their domestic language. This calls for caution in using these databases for international comparisons of research activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandelin, Bo & Sarafoglou, Nikias, 2003. "Language and Scientific Publication Statistics: a Note," Working Papers in Economics 109, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0109
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/2670
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. René L. Frey & Bruno S. Frey, 1995. "Is There a European Economics?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 185-186, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Philippe Rennard, 2005. "Open access : toward a new economic model of scholarly publications," Post-Print hal-00451852, HAL.
    2. Jacques Melitz, 2014. "English as a Global Language," Working Papers 2014-22, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    3. Nikias Sarafoglou & Rafael Laniado-Laborin & William A. Sprigg & Menas Kafatos, 2020. "Interdisciplinary Science to Confront Coccidioidomycosis," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 8(4), pages 97-118, July.
    4. Philippe Jeannin, 2004. "Les économistes et leurs revues," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 114(3), pages 275-288.
    5. Albuquerque, Eduardo da Motta e & Chaves, Catari Vilela & Dos Santos, Ulisses Pereira & Ribeiro, Leonardo Costa, 2020. "Innovation systems and changes in the core-periphery divide: notes on a methodology to determine countries’ trajectories using science and technology statistics," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    6. Nikias Sarafoglou & Rafael Laniado-Laborin & Menas Kafatos, 2019. "Coccidioidomycosis: Medical and Spatio-Temporal Perspectives," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 7(6), pages 24-34, November.
    7. Sandelin, Bo, 2004. "Eli Heckscher Today: A Bibliometric Picture," Working Papers in Economics 121, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    language; scientific publication; ISI;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General

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