Study highlights impacts of politics on scientific output
A new report highlights the impact of major political events such as wars and revolutions on countries' scientific output. The study is based on an analysis of the 'Web of Science' database of scientific publications over the past 30 years. It was written by Science-Metrix, a company specialising in the evaluation of research and development (R&D) support systems. 'When we started this research, we expected to find Asian countries growing rapidly,' commented Science-Metrix President and report author Eric Archambault. 'But we were both awed and pleasantly surprised. Asia is catching up even more rapidly than previously thought, Europe is holding its position more than most would expect, and the Middle East is a region to watch.' According to the study, Europe still accounts for the greatest share (around a third) of the world's scientific output. 'In contrast to a widely held belief that we are witnessing a simple shift from the West to the East, data on scientific production suggests that European attitudes towards collaboration are bearing fruit and that the old continent is holding its own while Northern American countries are losing their strategic, central place in the science system,' the report reads. Within Europe, the most significant event during the period studied was the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union. The report reveals that the scientific output of almost all former Soviet republics fell by a quarter in the decade after the USSR's collapse. The two exceptions to this trend were Estonia and Lithuania, which experienced rates of growth faster than the world average. Elsewhere in eastern Europe, the report notes that 'other Warsaw Pact members began to increase their contributions to world science almost immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain'. In general, countries bordering western Europe recovered fastest. The authors suggest: 'The entry of these countries in the European Union, or the accession process, may have played an important role in the development of these countries' scientific capability.' They add: 'Having access to a large group of collaborators such as the EU not only helps to bolster economic performance but also increases scientific impact and the speed of knowledge diffusion in a country.' Elsewhere, the report charts the changes in scientific output in the Middle East. 'Overall, growth in the Middle East has been rapid (nearly four times faster than at world level), with Iran and Turkey leading the pack,' the report reads. However, Iraqi science is only now starting to shown signs of recovery from the conflicts in the country. Output is also at a standstill in Bahrain, Egypt and Kuwait. In Asia, scientific output is rising rapidly. It is doing this not by 'leapfrogging' development stages but by compressing the advances made in western countries over the past 150 years. In 2009, Asia's output surpassed that of North America, and China's output alone is expected to reach US levels by 2015. 'These data provide a lot of food for thought,' said Dr Archambault. 'Science is growing in importance, but we don't know much about how politics affects science and not even how science affects policy.'