Recognizing a Change in World Science System

Abstract

English Abstract: Kingâ s (2004) â The scientific impact of nationsâ published in the Nature has provided the data for the comparison among nation-states in terms of their research performance with reference to their previous stages. This paper makes an attempt to do a new evaluation of the data from another perspective, which leads to completely different and hitherto overlooked conclusions. This paper found that there were newly emerging nations. While their national science systems grow endogenously, their publications and citation rates keep pace with the growth pattern. The center of gravity of the world system of science may be changing accordingly. Its axis is moving from North America first to Europe, but then increasingly to Asia. At the global level the rise of China and South Korea are perhaps the main effect because of the volumes.