The Spanish government announced in March that Spain's scientific research quality has overtaken that of Australia and Switzerland (see http://go.nature.com/si76qc). It drew this conclusion from a 2011 report by Britain's Royal Society (see http://go.nature.com/q8hmxw). I question the government's interpretation, given that the Swiss win at least one Nobel prize in science every decade and Spain has not won one for 100 years.

The Royal Society report uses total citation counts as a measure of quality and impact. But citation figures can be misleading, depending on how they are derived. For example, Switzerland and Australia emerge well ahead of Spain when adjustment is made for high-profile, but low-frequency, breakthroughs among the routine results that dominate citation counting (A. Rodríguez-Navarro PLoS ONE 6, e20510; 2011).

The Spanish government's apparent misinterpretation has led to a reduction in tenure for young scientists, among other funding cuts justified on the grounds that Spain has too many researchers. The government should look instead to the excessive number of university professors, who are not always picked for their research record.

Spain's scientific societies should oppose this misguided research policy if the country's science is to improve.