Is it any wonder that years of undernourishment have stunted the growth and reduced the role of British science? A study commissioned by the Advisory Board for the Research Councils (ABRC), released last October, painstakingly evaluated U.K. performance, measured in terms of papers published and citations received, against those of France, West Germany, Japan and the United States. The results were sobering, to say the least. From 1973 to 1982, the United Kingdom slipped in its share of papers, from 9.2 to 8.3 percent. Its share of citations declined from 10.9 percent in 1976 to 8.9 in 1982. On a citations-per-paper basis, the drop for the United Kingdom was even greater, which hints at an erosion in the world's appreciation for science with an English accent. The other side of the coin is Japan, whose share in papers and citations increased dramatically over these periods. (See D.C. Smith, P.M.D. Collins, ...
Shame On You, Mrs.Thatcher
The Conservative government of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher claims it provides "level funding" in its current support of scientific research. But, with sharply rising cost, level funding really amounts to underfunding, which can only hasten the decline of British science. Although that decline began at least a few years before Mrs. Thatcher assumed leadership in 1979, her government has done nothing of substance to reverse the trend. I say, shame on you, Mrs. Thatcher. Your budget po
Written byEugene Garfield
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Meet the Author
Eugene Garfield was an American linguist and businessman, one of the founders of bibliometrics and scientometrics. He also founded The Scientist magazine in 1986.
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