The transition from “national” to “transnational” model and related measures of countries' performance

Abstract

The transition from a national science model in which the national language is used for publications and other communications, to a transnational model in which a single international language (English) is used and the market is dominated by Anglo-Saxon publishers, has continued in recent decades. The transition was still in progress for some countries and disciplines throughout the period examined here (1981–1992). The transition process was analyzed in terms of the Science Citation Index database, first by assessing direct manifestations through specific indicators, and then by checking increases in performance by considering transition as a global process. The number of publications and citations followed the expected trend, whereas changes in impact appear to have been governed by non-transition factors. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.