Web of Science data uncovers links between G20 nations'
response to COVID-19 and research subject diversity
LONDON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/
-- Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT), a global leader
in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the
pace of innovation, today launched a new report which examines the
research performance of each of the member countries of the G20
with a visual comparative snapshot for each nation. It also
includes a special analysis of the G20 members' COVID-19 research
as indexed in the Web of Science™ research publication and citation
index.
The report, The Annual G20 Scorecard – Research Performance
2021 has been created by the Institute for Scientific
Information™ at Clarivate ahead of this year's G20 Summit, which
will be hosted virtually by Rome,
Italy on October 30-31. It
includes both a written summary and an array of graphs and exhibits
that highlight the research performance of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mainland China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,
Mexico, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa,
South Korea, Turkey, the United
Kingdom and the United
States.
The report focuses on the different national responses to
COVID-19 and the link to each region's research investment and
subject diversity. It finds that regions with more even research
bases, especially the United
States, Germany and the
United Kingdom, tend to support a
response across a wider range of COVID-19 topics. Other G20 nations
with less even research bases tend toward a more specialized
response. However, one notable exception is Brazil, where a less diverse research base has
responded strongly to COVID-19, reflecting the relevant strengths
in its research portfolio, particularly around biosciences.
Jonathan Adams, Director at the
Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate and a co-author
of this annual report said: "The G20 meeting is a crucial forum for
international co-operation and it's increasingly important to
understand how the world's leading economies are using their
expertise and resources to address the world's present and future
challenges. The overall pattern in COVID-19 research that we see
from our analysis is clear: as in economics, diversity in national
portfolios enables a rapid and agile response. These scorecards
will help policymakers, observers and reporters to understand the
strengths and opportunities of G20 member nations during this
global crisis and beyond."
The national research profiles within the report are selective,
highlighting chosen topics of current policy interest that identify
good signals of the health of the research base for each G20 member
nation. Key factors that contribute to impactful research are laid
out for each nation in the report and benchmarked.
Some key findings include:
- In Australia output has
doubled in a decade and continues to rise, driven by exceptional
international collaboration.
- Brazil's output is
rising both domestically and for international collaboration. Open
access output is very strong across most disciplines – especially
for international papers.
- Mainland China boasts
an enormous research workforce and a large volume of investment
(more than two million researchers, Gross Expenditure on R&D
[GERD] over 2% of GDP). The domestic research base is diversifying
and growing in all areas with an expanding focus on social sciences
on top of its solid technology base.
- In Germany, investment
is higher than EU neighbors, with GERD over 3% of GDP, while output
per researcher is around G20 average. The citation impact of the
research is relatively good, especially in life sciences, and it
has a 14% share of the world's top 10% of papers.
- In Italy, productivity
per GERD is well above G20 average. Citation impact is good in all
areas and the impact of domestic research is rising, while average
performance is further boosted by international collaboration,
which accounts for 55% of total output.
- Research investment in Mexico is low and continues to fall
(GERD/GDP is 0.28%), but rising output is boosted by high and
rising productivity. Citation impact is now slowing including
international collaboration.
- Productivity in South
Africa is high and output has been rising. There are
consistently high levels of publication via open access across
disciplines and the country has the second highest proportion of
female researchers (45%).
- In South Korea, a large
workforce and the highest G20 GERD/GDP (4.6%) translate into strong
academic output in engineering, reflecting excellent private sector
funding and activity. Levels of publication via open access models
are rising in all areas.
- For the United Kingdom,
the share of papers in the global top 10% (16.2% and rising) is the
highest in the G20. International collaboration is exceptionally
high, and rising, for such a large economy. The proportion of
female researchers (39%) is above G20 average.
- In the United States,
although investment is rising, output has plateaued, and
output/researcher has fallen below the G20 average.
Joel Haspel, SVP Strategy,
Science at Clarivate said: "The world's strongest economies are
clear drivers of research and innovation, which underpin the
progress of society. The Institute for Scientific Information is
uniquely placed to analyze and report on the comparative health of
each G20 nation's research portfolio, setting Web of Science data
alongside other key metrics on people, finance and patenting to
help us more deeply understand their role in addressing the many
challenges our world faces – from the pandemic to climate change to
gender equality. By contributing to the conversation around G20
performance, Clarivate data is continuing to accelerate innovation
and help to solve the world's most pressing problems."
Notes to editors:
Report authors are available for interview.
The G20 is a group of 19 leading economies, with the EU as the
additional 20th member. Collectively the 19 countries of
the G20 represent two-thirds of the world's population, produce 80%
of global GDP, spend 93% of global R&D, employ 89% of the
world's researchers and publish 83% of the global research papers
indexed in the Web of Science with more than five million articles
and reviews indexed for the last three years.
See a full list of Global Research Reports from the Institute
for Scientific Information:
https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/isi-reports/
About Clarivate
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providing solutions to accelerate the lifecycle of innovation. Our
bold mission is to help customers solve some of the world's most
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Media Contact
Rebecca
Krahenbuhl, External Communications Manager, Science
media.enquiries@clarivate.com
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