Three regions — North America, North & West Europe, and East & Southeast Asia — produced 91% of the overall 2014 output (WFC) in the Nature Index.
TO EACH THEIR OWN
Relative to its overall WFC, each region shows a unique subject distribution in the Nature Index. North America is extremely strong in the life sciences, whereas contributions from Central & East Europe and West Asia are predominantly in the physical sciences. East & Southeast Asia are strong in chemistry. North & West Europe and Australasia & Pacific Islands split their contributions relatively evenly amongst these broad subject areas.
REGIONAL COLLABORATION PATTERNS
Most regions collaborate extensively with each other. African researchers are particularly active in forming connections with their counterparts in other regions, collaborating on over 70% of all their output in the Nature Index. The three heavy-weights — North & West Europe, East & Southeast Asia and North America — show the most regionally independent signature in their approach to collaboration.*
*Bars represent the proportion of a region's overall output in the Index (AC) stemming from collaborative efforts with other regions.
ENVIRONMENTAL COLLABORATIONS RULE
International collaboration rates differ not only across regions, but also across disciplines. In particular, researchers in the earth and environmental sciences reach out internationally.*
*Graphs represent the proportion of a region's overall output in the Index (AC) in each subject area stemming from international collaborative efforts.
SPEADING THE SUBJECT SPECIALTIES
Each subject area in the Index shows a unique regional contribution pattern according to WFC. Three regions — North America, North & West Europe, and East & Southeast Asia — account for most of the WFCs across all disciplines.
GOING VIRAL
In general, a region’s WFC correlates with its total Altmetric score. The exception is in East & Southeast Asia, where researchers might not publicize their work as well as scientists from other regions.
* Cumulative Altmetric scores were divided by FC for each region to account for the actual contribution of a region to a particular Altmetric score.
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Global overview. Nature 522, S2–S3 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/522S2a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/522S2a