I analysed the geographic distribution of authors of papers in Nature and Science during 1996–2010 (data from Thomson Reuters' Science Citation Index; 2012) and found that both journals are publishing an increasing number of contributions from Europe. In Nature these now predominate alongside papers from the United States; in Science, European publications have successfully eroded the monolithic US dominance of the mid-to-late 1990s.
Within Europe, the preponderance of publications from the United Kingdom in Nature during the 1990s has given way since 2000 to papers from Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden and others (in that order). Spain has markedly increased its presence in both journals: comparing two 5-year periods (2001–05 and 2006–10), publications from Spain increased from 156 to 226 in Nature and from 80 to 203 in Science.
The UNESCO Science Report 2010 found that the publication gap between developed and developing countries is also closing, largely thanks to the proliferation of digital information and communication technologies. The proportion of papers from developed countries fell from 84.3% in 2002 to 75.3% in 2008; those from developing countries showed an increase from 20.9% to 32% over the same period.
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González-Alvarez, J. Europe on the rise in Science and Nature. Nature 491, 192 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/491192e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/491192e