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Science and Research3.4 Research Output

3.4.1 Share of world scientific publications

Australia has a considerably higher share of highly-cited publications than its share of world population, suggesting that the quality of Australia's scientific publications is well above the world average. Australia's share of the world's scientific publications has risen from 3.6 per cent in 2011 to 4.1 per cent in 2020, which is an order of magnitude higher than Australia's 0.3 per cent share of world population.[96] While the United States still contributes almost a quarter of the world's publications, its share has gradually diminished over time, primarily due to China's increased contribution. China's share of the world's scientific publications has more than doubled since 2011, reaching 25.2 per cent in 2020.[97]

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3.4.2 Scientific publications per $ million non-business R&D

Research efficiency can be measured in terms of the number of scientific publications per $ million invested in non-business R&D. Australia's performance on this metric has lifted from 4.9 publications per $ million non-business R&D in 2006 (below the corresponding OECD average of 5.2) to 7.2 publications per $ million non-business R&D in 2017 (above the corresponding OECD average of 6.2). This indicates that Australia's researchers have become more productive at generating scientific publications per dollar invested and clearly highlights improvements in relation to the OECD average. This suggests that Australia’s research efficiency has notably improved over the period.[98]

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3.4.3 Scientific publications per million population

Research efficiency can be measured not only by the research output per dollar invested but also by the research output relative to the general population. Australia’s scientific research activities draw on talent from a relatively small but well-educated population. In 2020, Australia contributed to around 3,533 publications per million population, well above the OECD average of 2,090. It ranks 6th in the OECD on this measure. Switzerland, Denmark and Iceland are the three top ranking countries.[99]

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3.4.4 Share of top one and top ten per cent highly-cited publications

Australia's share of both top 1 per cent and top 10 per cent highly-cited publications has risen sharply since 2005, although there are some recent signs of a possible plateau in growth. In 2020, Australian authors were credited in 7.9 per cent of the world's top 1 per cent highly-cited publications and in 6.1 per cent of the world's top 10 per cent highly-cited publications for all disciplines. Further, while rates of international collaboration have risen around the world, Australia has experienced a greater increase in its publication citations involving international collaboration compared to the OECD average.[100]

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Footnotes

[96] World Bank (2021) World Development Indicators, The World Bank Group
[97] Clarivate Analytics (2021) IncitesTM, Web of Science Group
[98] Clarivate Analytics (2021) IncitesTM, Web of Science Group
[99] Clarivate Analytics (2021) IncitesTM, Web of Science Group
[100] Clarivate Analytics (2021) IncitesTM, Web of Science Group