Why is US citation share dropping?

The National Science Foundation released two reports to the public this week that examine a puzzling trend: Why, during times of increasing investment in science, is the share of US publications dropping? As I linkurl:reported;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/36407 in November of last year, US publication numbers plateaued from 1992 to 2002, and the global percentage of publications coming out of the US dropped from 38% in 1973 to 30% in 2003. Meanwhile, the report shows US academic R&D expenditures during 1988 to 2003 rising at a fast clip. As I write in this month's issue of __The Scientist__, linkurl:investing dollars in science;http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/7/1/28/1 appears to have robust returns to the economy; why aren't publication numbers responding similarly? One linkurl:report;http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srs07204/ surveyed a number of leading scientists, who agree that better and more abundant science from Asian countries has contributed to America's drop in share. The report summarizes the views that "improved capacity overseas is more...