Publication behaviour and international impact: Scandinavian clinical and social medicine, 1988-96

The paper presents the results of an empirical study of the Danish and Nordic publication behaviour and international impact in Clinical and Social Medicine covering the period 1988-96. As indicators are applied the international visibility of Scandinavian research output, the publication activity per capita in SCI journals, the development over time of the national citation impact in an OECD and World context, and the ratio of cited papers relative to the World. Compared to May's analysis (1997), covering 1981-94, the analysis shows that a certain reshuffle of national positions among the OECD countries in citation impact has occurred. UK and New Zealand as well as Denmark and Sweden have lost in ranking to Finland and Belgium, both countries coming up from behind. The most interesting results concern the opposite research policy strategies displayed by Finland and Denmark which result in similar impact patterns relative to the World impact. The implications are discussed.