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R. D. Shelton, Editor:  rds@itri2.org
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In This Issue of ITRInews
Japan Ups Quantity and Quality of S&T Papers as U.S. Declines
Swiss Excel in S&T Citations
While French Fling Sour Grapes
Federal R&D to Rise Sharply in FY2002
From Rags to Riches: ATP Budget Soars
Bement Confirmed as NIST Director
Orbach to Direct DOE Office of Science
WTEC Workshop on Japanese MEMS

Featured Organizations in International S&T:
ISI In-Cites
ISI Science Watch
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Japan Ups Quantity and Quality of S&T Papers as U.S. Declines  Even as Japan has increased its "market share" of publications in the world's leading S&T journals, its production of high-impact [high-citation] papers has increased even more rapidly. In 1981, Japan fielded 106 high-impact papers, in all fields of research, whereas in 1998 it produced 255—an increase of 141% in the top-ranked papers. Japanese research as a whole has also grown rapidly—from 6.2% of the world's scientific literature in 1981 to 9.5% in 1998, or an increase of 53%.

As Japan's world share grew over this period, the U.S. world share  declined, from 40% in 1981 to 35% in 1998. And in terms of the number of high-impact papers, the United States actually declined, from 2,942 in 1981 to 2,875 in 1998.   ISI-Thomson Scientific projects that in 2010, Asia (including Japan), the European Union nations, and North America (United States and Canada) will be more or less equals in their share of the world scientific literature. And in another decade, Asia may well be on a par with North America and with the European Union in its share of high-impact papers, as well.  [So much for the top U.S. goal of "maintaining our leadership in science and engineering."]  From the November-December, 2001 issue of ISI Science Watch.  Available at:  http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2000/sw_nov-dec2000_page1.htm

The ISI In-Cites companion site shows that between 1996 and 2000, ISI indexed 326,876 papers that listed at least one author address in Japan. Of those papers, the highest percentage appeared in materials science journals. The impact, or citations-per-paper average, for materials-science papers from Japan was just 3% below the world average for the field (an average of 1.87 citations per paper for Japan versus a world baseline figure of 1.92 cites per paper). Although the impact of Japanese papers was below the world average in all the fields shown, performance was comparatively strong not only in materials, but in physics, chemistry, agricultural sciences, and space science.  The link has a table of Japan's percent share and impact ratings in 21 S&T fields.  http://in-cites.com/research/2001/april_16_2001-1.html

Swiss Excel in S&T Citations While the Japanese are catching up in paper quality measured by citations, the champ is Switzerland.  Their citations-per-paper average exceeded the world average in nearly all the 21 fields studied. Swiss performance was particularly notable in engineering, where the nation's citations-per-paper score was 85% above the overall average in the field (2.65 cites per paper for Switzerland vs. 1.43 cites for the world). Swiss researchers scored nearly as high in physics (82% above the world average) and were also strong in materials science (+62%), pharmacology (+52%), chemistry (+51%) and agricultural sciences (+49%).   http://in-cites.com/research/2001/november_5_2001-2.html

While French Fling Sour Grapes  According to La Recherche, heads are still being scratched over how to interpret a report published a few months ago by Science Watch that rates research institutions worldwide. Among the top five public or private institutions in 19 scientific disciplines, French institutions figured only four times.  Various conclusions do emerge from closer study, such as the large place for error in this sort of wide cast rating; the importance of (as the French say) comparing what's comparable; the presence in this report also of the language and country bias under which SCI data infamously suffers; the need to control not only for these biases but also for the multiplier which occurs as numbers of articles published generates higher gross citation numbers; and the need for Europe to develop a competitor to the ISI's worldwide monopoly on scientific beauty contests. (La Recherche, November 1, p 61)  From the FAST e-letter.    http://france-science.org/english/

Federal R&D to Rise 13.5% in FY2002  Final action on the budget is being completed in late December, almost three months into the fiscal year.  The Bush Administration proposed in spring to hold Federal R&D investment to less than 5%, with most going to NIH.  The Congress has greatly increased the amount, and the Administration has agreed. Figure 1 in this AAAS report breaks down the R&D increase at each agency compared to the President's request. http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/caprev02.pdf

From Rags to Riches: ATP Budget Soars The Advanced Technology Program, which the House and the Administration sought to virtually eliminate, instead will receive a 26.9% increase, including funding for new awards. NIST's in-house laboratories will receive an increase of 2.9% to $321.1 million, which is less than requested.   The Manufacturing Extension Partnership will get a 2.2% increase.  From the FYI newsletter #140. http://www.aip.org/enews/ftm/.
 

Bement Confirmed as NIST Director  On November 30, the Senate confirmed Arden Bement, Jr. as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  Bement headed the School of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University.   Bement headed the advisory committee for NIST's Advanced Technology Program, which might have something to do with the stunning change in Bush Administration policy on ATP this year. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010816-6.html

 
 
 

Orbach to Direct DOE Office of Science  President Bush on December 11 announced his intention to nominate Raymond Orbach to be Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science.  Orbach is currently Chancellor of the University of California Riverside, where he is also a professor of physics.  The Office of Science is responsible for DOE's civilian research in high energy and nuclear physics, fusion energy sciences, basic energy sciences, biological and environmental research and computational science, and ten DOE civilian laboratories. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011211-8.html

 
 
 

WTEC Workshop on MEMS Announced (Second Notice).  Readers of ITRInews are invited to attend.  In early November WTEC sent a delegation of American experts, chaired by Prof. Roger Howe of UC Berkeley, to Japan to assess R&D in micro- electro- mechanical systems there.  Their findings will be presented at a workshop on January 18 at NSF, 4201 N. Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, VA.  For more information:  http://www.wtec.org/mems1/

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FEATURED ORGANIZATIONS THIS MONTH

ISI In-Cites E-Journal on Bibiometric Analysis of S&T http://in-cites.com/countries/index.html

ISI Science Watch  http://www.sciencewatch.com/

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Copyright © 2002 ITRI, Inc. Comments to rds@itri2.org please.
 

DATE	FEATURE ARTICLE	URL
Aug 98	Left Hand/Right Hand: NSF and NAS Both Assess US Math Research	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews1.htm
Sep 98	The Y1.998K Problem: Y2K Arrives 0.002K Early. Markets Crash, PMs Fired, Orioles 31 Games Behind	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews2.htm
Oct 98	Is S&T to Blame for the Asian Financial Crisis?	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews3.htm
Nov 98	NRC to State:  Ignoring S&T is Ignorant	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews4.htm
Dec 98 / Jan 99	The Bottom Line: US Trade Deficit Skyrockets	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews5.htm
Feb 99	Who's the Bear, and Who's the Bull? Japan Doubles R&D; The US Cuts It	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews6.html
Mar 99	Who's On First? (US, But Not for Long)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews7.html
Apr 99	GPRA Metastasizes Abroad	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews8.html
May /  Jun 99	Teraflops Computers Meet Gates' Law	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews9.html
July 99	More Good News / Bad News from the Academy	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews10.html
Aug 99	Rep. George Brown Adjourns	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews11.html
Sep 99	200GB Disk: 40 Films on One CD	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews12.html
Oct 99	Is International S&T Assessment Needed?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews13.html
Nov 99	Output in Papers: We're Number One?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews14.html
Dec 99 / Jan 00	New Technology Czar(ina)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews15.html
Feb 00	S&T: Ready for Prime Time?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews16.html
Mar 00	Bottom Line II: Trade Deficit Skyrocket Explodes	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews17.html
Apr 00	Who's Getting U.S. Patents?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews18.html
May 00	Think That Government is Investing More in Research? Think Again.	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews19.html
Jun 00	American Leadership of S&T: Reality or Myth?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews20.html
Jul 00	Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Released by NSF	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews21.html
Aug 00	Pale Green Manufacturing: US is 3rd out of 3	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews22.html
Aug 00 (Extra)	Americans Like Being No. 1 and Want to Keep It That Way	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews23.html
Sept 00	Industry Leads U.S. R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews24.html
Oct 00	Gingrich Praises Clinton	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews25.html
Nov 00	Research Feasts: FY2001 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews26.html
Dec 00	S&T Policy of the Bush Administration	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews27.html
Jan 01	Andreessen's Law for the Internet	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews28.html
Feb 01	Sherwood Boehlert: New Science Committee Chair	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews29.html
Mar 01	Research Famines: FY2002 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews30.html
Apr 01	As DotComs Wilt, Internet Sprouts	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N31.html
May 01	R&D Budget Crash	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N32.html
Jun 01	Nano is Huge, and Getting Bigger	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N33.html
Jul 01	Marburger to be OSTP Director	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N34.html
Aug 01	Doctors of Economic Warfare	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N35.html
Sep 01	US Technologies Lead;  US Technologists Lag	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N36.html
Oct 01	Impact of Terrorism on R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N37.html
Nov 01	Marburger Shakes Up OSTP	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N38.html
Dec 01 / Jan 02	Japan Ups S&T Paper Quality and Quantity as U. S. Declines	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N39.html