Academy of Finland report ranks Finland high in scientific publishing
According to a report issued on Tuesday by the Academy of Finland under the title Finnish Science in International Comparison: A Bibliometric Analysis, Finland is among the world's most prolific producers of scientific publications, when the number of publications is set against population or GDP.
In a comparison of 30 OECD countries, Finland emerged in fourth place by population, with only Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark outperforming us, and leaving traditional scientific powers such as Britain and Germany in our wake. The same top-four ranking was observed relative to GDP, with the exception that New Zealand took third place.
It is not merely the number of publications that is relevant in such matters, but also the recognition received from peers. In the early part of this decade, Finnish scientific publications received on average six citations per publication, which is well above the OECD average. The most citations were for agricultural and medical research.
Last year, Finns produced some 8,300 scientific articles, the highest figure ever recorded.
The number of publications issued by Finnish researchers has increased by around 250% over the last two decades, according to the report. This period was marked by a huge spurt in the 1990s, with annual growth rates of around 8%, while the pace has since slackened off. These days it is in China, South Korea, and some of the countries of Southern Europe - Portugal and Turkey in particular - where the rate of growth is greatest.
Finnish publications are focused mainly on the natural sciences and medicine, as is the case within the OECD nations generally.
An increasing number of papers are nowadays written as international collaborations, with the Finnish researchers most often working in partnership with those from other EU countries, the United States, and Russia.
The full report (in a .pdf file) can be found from the link below, by scrolling through the Academy's 2006 publications and clicking on "15/06 Finnish Science in International Comparison: A Bibliometric Analysis". The relevant tables for population and GDP comparisons are to be found on pages 29 and 30 of the document.
In a comparison of 30 OECD countries, Finland emerged in fourth place by population, with only Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark outperforming us, and leaving traditional scientific powers such as Britain and Germany in our wake. The same top-four ranking was observed relative to GDP, with the exception that New Zealand took third place.
It is not merely the number of publications that is relevant in such matters, but also the recognition received from peers. In the early part of this decade, Finnish scientific publications received on average six citations per publication, which is well above the OECD average. The most citations were for agricultural and medical research.
Last year, Finns produced some 8,300 scientific articles, the highest figure ever recorded.
The number of publications issued by Finnish researchers has increased by around 250% over the last two decades, according to the report. This period was marked by a huge spurt in the 1990s, with annual growth rates of around 8%, while the pace has since slackened off. These days it is in China, South Korea, and some of the countries of Southern Europe - Portugal and Turkey in particular - where the rate of growth is greatest.
Finnish publications are focused mainly on the natural sciences and medicine, as is the case within the OECD nations generally.
An increasing number of papers are nowadays written as international collaborations, with the Finnish researchers most often working in partnership with those from other EU countries, the United States, and Russia.
The full report (in a .pdf file) can be found from the link below, by scrolling through the Academy's 2006 publications and clicking on "15/06 Finnish Science in International Comparison: A Bibliometric Analysis". The relevant tables for population and GDP comparisons are to be found on pages 29 and 30 of the document.
Helsingin Sanomat