Top countries in ENGINEERING

Data provided by Thomson Reuters from its Essential Science Indicators, January 2000–April 2010

The data (left) were extracted from the Essential Science Indicators database of Thomson Reuters. This database, currently covering the period January 2000 through April 2010, 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 engineering is by citations per paper – among nations that earned 25,000 citations or more – 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 engineering, 96 nations are listed, meaning 192 were surveyed. Twenty-nine nations collected at least 25,000 citations during the period.

With the exception of the US, the top-ranked nations in engineering are European: Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland stand out despite relatively modest output. Since reviewing similar data two years ago, one large change in rank order is Singapore, which has moved from 16th to 11th. In terms of output, Asian nations are clearly on the rise. By papers produced, China now ranks second to the US, and Japan, South Korea and Taiwan rank third, ninth and tenth, respectively. For more information on Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators, see http://science.thomsonreuters.com/products/esi/.