47 France's position in the world in terms of scientific publications

In 2013, France was ranked 6th in the world with 3.5% of all scientific publications worldwide. Like its major European counterparts, the country's share of publications is in decline, but its impact index is increasing and is above the world average. Of the top 10 countries in the world, France has the highest rate of international collaboration. The European Union and the United States are France's foremost scientific partners.

In 2013, the United States produced more than one fifth of scientific publications worldwide (21.6%), followed by China (14.4%), the United Kingdom (5.1%) Germany (5%) and Japan (4.8%) (chart 47.01). France was in sixth place (3.5%) ahead of India, Italy (both at 3.2%) and Canada (3%). Among the countries whose world share of publications increased most between 2008 and 2013 were Iran, a country with limited scientific production but whose share doubled, China, whose share rose by more than 70%, India and Brazil, whose share increased by about 20%, and South Korea whose share climbed by 12%. The world shares of Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and France recorded a decline of between -15% and -24%.

The redistribution of scientific production worldwide, and especially the decline in the share of seven of the top eight producing countries, is now established. While the United States' world share has been declining over the last twenty years, for France, its European counterparts - Germany and the United Kingdom - and Japan this erosion started later, between 1999 and 2003 (chart 47.02a). Together, these five countries accounted for about 58% of publications worldwide in 2001, but only 40% in 2013. The rise of China, Brazil, India and other countries with fast-growing scientific development is the reason for the decline in the share of world production by the traditional big scientific countries.

In contrast to their world share, the impact of publications from the foremost producer countries increased between 2001 and 2013. For France, Germany and the United Kingdom, visibility increased by at least 17%, although that of France lagged slightly behind that of the other two countries (chart 47.02b). During this same period, the United States and Japan maintained their level of visibility. China advanced not only in its share of publications but also in visibility; nevertheless its impact index, which increased by 58% between 2001 and 2013, was still considerably below the world average.

In 2013, with more than 50% of publications involving at least one laboratory abroad (chart 47.03), France had the highest rate of international collaboration, just ahead of the United Kingdom and Germany. Next came Canada, Italy and the United States (31.8%). The share of international publications from the four Asian countries (Japan, China, India and South Korea) ranged from around 19% to 27%. Between 2008 and 2013, the international collaboration rate increased more than 20% for the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, 18% for France, while that of China stagnated.

In 2013, the 28 countries of the European Union (excluding France) were involved in more than half of France's international co-publications (table 47.04). The United States was involved in more than a quarter of France's co-publications. Within the European Union, Germany and the United Kingdom are almost level, with involvement in more than 17% of France's co-publications. Next came other countries which are geographically close: Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

The affinity index, which relates to international co-publications and takes country size into account (see Methodology), reveals some close partnership ties formed through linguistic similarities or geographic proximity, just as France has with Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Spain (index significantly higher than 1).

Françoise Laville, Chris Roth & Marie-Laure Taillibert