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Scientific publication activities of 32 countries. — Zipf-Pareto distribution

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Abstract

The paper examines the qualitative as well as quantitative indicators for the assessment of the scientific publication activities of 32 countries, with special attention to the Zipf-Pareto distribution of those indicators. Also discussed is the linear relationship between the number of first authors of scientific papers in a given country and the number of papers it produced. Based on these discussions, a comprehensive indicator combining the merits of quantitative and qualitative indicators is suggested. The ranking of the 32 countries by this indicator is found to follow also Zipf-Pareto distribution.

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Liming, L., Lihua, L. Scientific publication activities of 32 countries. — Zipf-Pareto distribution. Scientometrics 26, 263–273 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016219

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016219

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