Worldwide topology of the scientific subject profile: a macro approach on the country level

TL;DR

This paper classifies countries into three main scientific thematic clusters—biomedical, basic science & engineering, and agricultural—using PCA and MDS to analyze their knowledge and innovation systems based on publication data.

Contribution

It introduces a macro approach to categorize countries' scientific profiles through behavioral models and multivariate analysis techniques.

Findings

Identified three main thematic clusters of countries.

Used PCA and MDS to visualize country groupings.

Provided a global map of scientific profiles.

Abstract

Models for the production of knowledge and systems of innovation and science are key elements for characterizing a country in view of its scientific thematic profile. With regard to scientific output and publication in journals of international visibility, the countries of the world may be classified into three main groups according to their thematic bias. This paper aims to classify the countries of the world in several broad groups, described in terms of behavioural models that attempt to sum up the characteristics of their systems of knowledge and innovation. We perceive three clusters in our analysis: 1) the biomedical cluster, 2) the basic science & engineering cluster, and 3) the agricultural cluster. The countries are conceptually associated with the clusters via Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and a Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) map with all the countries is presented.