Science & Technology - Size of Brain Pool

Per Capita Output of Science and Engineering Articles by Country, 1999–2001

Original Sources: Institute for Scientific Information, Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index; CHI Research Inc.; National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, special tabulations; World Bank Development Indicators, 2002; US Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, 2002, Washington.

Cited From: National Science Board (2005): Science and Engineering Indicators, 2004. Arlington, VA (National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics), Table 5-20

This figure gives a sobering message to those who believe that China might quickly dominate global science and technology due to her enormous number of researchers and scientists. In the period of 1999 to 2001 China's per capita output of science and engineering papers was a tiny fraction of what was typical for most European countries. In fact, the per capita output of science and technology papers in China was more comparable to that of developing countries such as Kenya, Thailand, and Iran. The highest per capita output of research and technology papers was reported from Israel, Sweden and Switzerland.

Scientific output is still very much concentrated in European countries. It is remarkable, that the United States had fewer research papers per person than the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Sweden or Switzerland.