Scientific research publication productivity in the areas of mathematics and physics in south eastern Europe

Abstract

The paper presents the scientific publication productivity, registered in Web of Science (WoS) databases in two fields of science, Mathematics and Physics, for authors from countries of South East Europe (SEE).Using Revealed Publication Advantage (RPA) indicator calculated for SEE countries, policy makers could get insight into the scientific publication productivity of SEE countries, in these two scientific fields, compared with the world average. The scientific output in Mathematics and Physics from the SEE region represents majority of the overall scientific output in every particular country in this region. The scientific output in Mathematics and Physics from the SEE region is comparable with those of other research groups in the world. When analysing Web of Science publications by field of research, Mathematics represents 2.1% of the total worldwide scientific production, while Physics accounts for 8.8%, giving a total of 10.9% for Physics and Mathematics combined - over 1,547,187 publications in the period 2005-2010. In South East Europe, Mathematics is 3.5% of the total scientific production, while Physics is 9.6% - bringing the total for Physics and Mathematics to 13.1%.