Changing publication behaviour of East and Central European scientists and the impact of their papers

摘要

In the past many scientists in the former socialist countries could not always freely communicate with their Western colleagues. It was often difficult for them to publish in Western journals or to participate in international conferences if they were not held in the East. So some of their results were little known in the West. The flow of scientific information was restrained by political, financial and cultural barriers. Some barriers are lower today, and changing bibliometric indicators should reflect the transformation processes. How often, for example, Eastern Scientists have published articles in leading international journals of their field could be an appropriate indicator. In the present study I have investigated for the period 1980–1994 the cases of the journals Physical Review A, B, C, D, and E, published in New York, to get an impression how the publication behaviour of East and Central European scientists has changed. Could Eastern research groups which changed their publication behaviour increase the impact of their papers? The citation rates of two groups of Russian physicists have been considered to yield an answer to this question.