Over the 12-year period of 1976 to 1987, the United States, West Germany, France, and Japan increased their share of citations on a per paper basis, while the United Kingdom dipped slightly, according to new data compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).
Quantitative studies of British science issued over the past few years have consistently shown a decrease in its world share of citations—an indicator of declining quality or utility (see, for example, B.R Martin, J. Irvine, F. Narin & C. Sterritt, Nature, 330, 123-6, 12 November 1987). Martin et al. found a 6% decline in the U.K.’s share of citations from 1976 to 1980 and a 4% decline from 1980 to 1984. The new data presented in the accompanying chart, extracted from ISI’s recently mounted Science Indicators file, would seem to confirm this rather bleak trend.
The outlook is considerably brighter for France, West Germany, and Japan, ...
