Top nations in economics and business based on impact

The data above were extracted from the Essential Science Indicators database of Thomson Reuters. This database, currently covering the period January 1998 through June 2008, surveys only journal articles (original research reports and review articles) indexed by Thomson Reuters. Articles are assigned to a category based on the journals in which they were published and Thomson Reuters’ journal-to-category field-definition scheme. Both articles tabulated and citation counts to those articles are for the period indicated. Here our ranking in economics and business is by citations per paper – among nations that published 1,000 or more papers during the period – to reveal weighted impact. For articles with multiple authors from different nations, each nation receives full, not fractional, citation credit. Essential Science Indicators lists nations ranked in the top 50 per cent for a field over a given period, based on total citations. In economics and business, 81 nations are listed, meaning 162 were surveyed. Twenty-four nations published at least 1,000 papers during the period. For more information on Thomson Reuters’s Essential Science Indicators, see http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/esi.