(PanARMENIAN) – On February 22, The Caucasus Research Resource Centers unveiled a report detailing the scientific output trends in the South Caucasus between 1996 and 2012, naming Armenia as the top country in the South Caucasus in terms of scientific output.
According to the report, Armenia’s science sector has been steadily developing throughout those 15 years.
Increases in the quantity of peer reviewed publications and citations are believed to measure scientific progress. In the 1960s, efforts to document, explore, and explain trends in scientific progress gave rise to the quantitative study of science and science policy, called Scientometrics.
The platform presents several important indicators of scientific output in the South Caucasus countries.
The number of publications in peer reviewed journals by academics affiliated with the country’s scientific institutions from all three South Caucasus countries, especially Armenia, increased between 1996 and 2012.
The number of both cited and uncited publications has been increasing in each scientific discipline. However, the ratio of cited peer reviewed publications to uncited ones are slightly declining.
International collaboration, measured by the ratio of peer reviewed publications co-authored by individuals from different countries, seems to have increased between 1996 and 2012. Azerbaijan falls behind, while international collaboration is slowly but steadily increasing in Armenia and Georgia.
To sum up, the number of peer reviewed publications is the most rapidly growing indicator, suggesting positive developments in the scientific community of the South Caucasus countries. On the other hand, it seems that there is still work to do when it comes to the impact of the publications by scholars in the South Caucasus.
