A large-scale temporal analysis of scientific production across disciplines and countries

Abstract

In this article, we undertake a comprehensive large-scale analysis of the evolution of scientific communities across different disciplines and countries, spanning the period 1991-2020. Our analysis uses data obtained from Scopus and involves a total of 15,756,144 authors, 74,847,508 publications, and 1,501,206,153 citations. Besides the overall research production, we investigate multiple disciplines at various levels of aggregation (namely, scientific sectors as defined by the European Research Council and Scopus research categories). The geographical focus of our analysis takes into account first the worldwide scientific production and then addresses the 19 countries that are members of the G20 group (thus excluding the EU).

Research production generally increases with time (in terms of authors, publications, and citations), both on a global scale and specifically in each country. The growth is not only in terms of raw numbers but also relative to population and gross domestic product. The gender gap appears to be narrowing, albeit at a slower pace for STEM disciplines than others. Although the United States started out as the dominant country in all research fields, its primacy has eroded constantly with the passage of time. The fastest growing emerging country, China, recently managed to overtake the United States, at least in STEM disciplines.