The relationship between S&T development and (social) science productivity in Europe

Abstract

This article analyses on a comparative basis, the relationship between S&T development and (social) science productivity in the EU countries. The results reveal that Germany, Netherlands, France and United Kingdom are no longer the leaders in the development of S&T, and the top positions have been taken by Northern European countries namely Finland, Denmark and Sweden. These results could give rise to the reshaping of European leadership in economic and social development, if Germany, France and the United Kingdom do not reverse their S&T investment trends of the past 20 years. The data not only indicate a change in the leading countries, but also the alteration of the positions of other countries in the European Space for Science. With the exception of Greece, Southern European countries have made considerable advances as have Czech Republic and Slovenia. As for (social) science productivity, it has been shown that the countries that are at the top of the S&T hierarchy are not necessarily those that publish most papers in WoS/JCR journals, but rather the contrary. This led to the conclusion that other indicators should be taken in consideration to analyse science productivity, including the orientation of academic reforms and the new models of universities governance. Science productivity is one of the tools used to implement this governance model which tends to manage all disciplines in the same way. Journal data bases are part of this new management and have a decisive role in the stratification of the European and global Science Space.