National publication and citation comparisons

Abstract Indicators of national scientific activity have been derived from counts of 500,000 publications, and millions of citations, in 492 large and heavily cited scientific journals in seven major disciplines, six major countries, and a time span from 1965 to 1971. For 1972 the publication and citation counts covered 2143 journals. All of the citation data, and much of the publication data, were from journals covered by the Science Citation Index (SCI). The publication counts indicate clear first rank position for the U.S. in scientific publications, followed at a significant distance by the Soviet Union. Far below the U.S. and U.S.S.R. are the United Kingdom and Germany, followed by Japan and France. The national publication rankings vary widely from discipline to discipline, with Soviet chemistry high, physics moderate and biology low. The U.S. is the most highly cited country, followed by the U.K.; Germany and Japan are at a middle level, with French and Soviet publications the least heavily cited.