Top countries in sciences and social sciences based on impact

Rank	Country	Papers	Citations	Citations per paper
1	Switzerland	161,879	2,323,889	14.36
2	United States	2,854,884	39,295,4	13.76
3	Denmark	88,155	1,169,661	13.
4	Netherlands	222,641	2,912,261	13.08
5	Scotland	102,511	1,321,421	12.89
6	Sweden	168,285	2,094,964	12.45
7	England	654,639	8,138,356	12.43
8	Finland	82,395	964,608	11.71
9	Canada	397,612	4,476,856	11.26
10	Belgium	120,398	1,348,242	11.20
11	Germany	738,434	8,168,924	11.06
12	Austria	84,433	901,230	10.67
13	Israel	105,858	1,124,737	10.62
14	Norway	60,9	637,634	10.58
15	France	528,083	5,510,065	10.43
16	Australia	255,431	2,565,792	10.04
17	Italy	378,661	3,742,987	9.88
18	New Zealand	50,593	451,222	8.92
19	Japan	771,078	6,717,770	8.71
20	Spain	8,805	2,393,242	8.58

The data above were extracted from Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators database. This database, currently covering the period January 1998 to April 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 all fields of the sciences and social sciences is by citations per paper – among nations

that published 50,000 or more papers for 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 all fields surveyed, 148 nations or territories are listed, meaning 296 were surveyed. Thirty-two nations or territories produced at least 50,000 papers indexed by Thomson Reuters from January 1998 through April 2008.

Of course, the mix of research in different fields produced by each nation varies, and since different fields exhibit different average rates of citation, the above data represent a blended measure: those that produced more papers in high-impact fields have an advantage over those that disproportionately published in low-impact fields. Likewise, those that published greater numbers of papers in languages other than English have a disadvantage compared with those publishing exclusively in English, the lingua franca of modern research.

For more information on Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators, see http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/esi. Also see: http://scientific.thomson.com.