Subbiah Arunachalam
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Chennai 600 113, India
E-mail: <[email protected]>
Communication flow and information access in South and South East Asia
Disk years 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
World 707683 730112 745819 770591 785214 778446
TH 600 642 698 905 880 1057
PH 249 253 280 289 311 326
ID 285 259 344 289 322 364
MY 522 479 489 574 784 679
SG 1417 1407 1701 2038 2520 2925
VN 170 193 209 205 209 290
BD 240 228 227 232 263 255
MM 21 18 11 10 18 18
LK 115 109 102 122 147 175
PK 444 367 344 424 424 406
IN 11084 11177 11067 12128 12521 12127
CN 9713 10152 12630 14610 17138 22061
Number of papers published from Asian countries [SCI]
No. of papers Percent share
World 778446
US 262892 33.77
UK 72580 9.32
Japan 68056 8.74
France 44990 5.78
Canada 31929 4.10
Germany 63365 8.14
Italy 31673 4.07
Number of papers published from G7 countries as seen from SCI 2000
Main telephone
lines per 100 inhabitants
2001*
Internet hosts per
10,000 inhabitants
2001*
Population
(thousands)
2001
GNI Per capitaa $
2000
BD 0.39 - 133,405 370
CN 13.81 0.69 1,271,900 840
IN 3.38 0.81 1,033,390 450
ID 3.70 2.13 213,638 570
MY 19.91 31.10 23,796 3,380
MM 0.58 - 48,315 …b
* ITU, Statistics for the year 2001, released on 20 June 2002; a. Atlas method; see WDI Statistical methods. b. Estimated to be low income ($755 or less).
Source: 2002 World Development Indicators database, World Bank, 20 April 2002
Population and technology indicators
Main telephone
lines per 100 inhabitants
2001*
Internet hosts per
10,000 inhabitants
2001*
Population
(thousands)
2001
GNI Per capitaa $
2000
PK 2.35 0.78 141,450 440
PH 4.02 4.00 77,015 1,040
SG 47.14 479.18 4,103 24,740
LK 4.33 1.20 19,649 850
TH 9.39 11.32 61,238 2,000
VN 3.76 0.06 79,526 390
* ITU, Statistics for the year 2001, released on 20-June-2002; a. Atlas method; see WDI Statistical methods. b. Estimated to be low income ($755 or less).
Source: 2002 World Development Indicators database, World Bank, 20 April 2002
Population and technology indicators
Population
(thousands)
2001
No. of papers
(SCI- 2000)
Papers/ population
(1000)
BD 133,405 255 0.00191
CN 1,271,900 22061 0.01734
IN 1,033,390 12127 0.01174
ID 213,638 364 0.00170
MY 23,796 679 0.02853
MM 48,315 18 0.00037
Contd…
Data on publication per capita for Asian countries
Population
(thousands)
2001
No. of papers
(SCI- 2000)
Papers/ population
(1000)
PK 141,450 406 0.00287
PH 77,015 326 0.00423
SG 4,103 2925 0.71289
LK 19,649 175 0.00891
TH 61,238 1057 0.01726
VN 79,526 290 0.00365
Data on publication per capita for Asian countries
Population (thousands)
No. of papers
(SCI 2000)
Papers/
Population (1000)
US 283,962 262892 0.9258
UK 59,904 72580 1.2116
Japan 127,100 68056 0.5355
France 59,165 44990 0.7604
Canada 31,015 31929 1.0295
Germany 82,195 63365 0.7709
Italy 57,691 31673 0.5490
Data on publication per capita for G7 countries
Number of JCR indexed journals published from Asian countries [JCR 2001]
57
45
29
18 16
3 2 1
0
10
2030
40
50
60
CN IN SG KR TW BD PK TH
Publishing country
No.
of j
ourn
als
Number of JCR indexed journal published from Advanced countries [JCR 2001]
2220
1168
565432
154 148 147 98 76 69
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
US UK NL DE CH FR JP RU CA IT
Publishing country
No
. of
jou
rnal
s
No. of papers
IN KR TW SG TH MY ID PH
CN 13878 71 142 102 105 5 15 9 17
IN 11437 68 38 10 8 27 3 4
KR 8234 52 3 7 4 3 8
TW 7113 27 5 2 3 7
SG 1892 3 22 0 4
TH 774 13 10 6
MY 538 5 2
ID 267 5
PH 266
Number of papers coauthored by scientists from Asian countries* [SCI 1998]
* In some papers there may be authors from more than two countries
Total No. of papers
Total No. of collaborated
papers
% of collaborated
papers
Total No. of links
Internatio-nalization
Index
IN 11437 2015 17.62 3300 28.85
CN 13878 3955 28.5 5569 40.13
JP 60721 10007 16.48 13497 22.23
KR 8234 2023 24.57 3475 42.2
TW 7113 1163 16.34 1908 26.82
HK 3210 1164 36.26 1442 44.92
Extent of international collaboration in selected Asian countries
Data from SCI 1998Contd…
Total No. of papers
Total No. of collaborated
papers
% of collaborated
papers
Total No. of links
Internatio-nalization
Index
SG 1892 576 30.44 706 37.32
TH 774 460 59.43 649 83.85
MY 538 224 45.35 316 58.74
ID 266 234 87.97 347 130.45
PH 266 178 66.92 297 111.65
Data from SCI 1998
Extent of international collaboration in selected Asian countries
Number of papers co-authored by authors from Asian countries with authors from advanced countries
Collaborating countries
IN CN JP KR TW HK
CA 88 195 555 92 67 83
JP 195 627 - 416 155 38
US 809 1216 4494 1216 725 344
FR 219 244 575 125 58 16
DE 300 485 1094 167 98 50
IT 132 184 405 109 54 12
UK 232 368 980 117 76 123
Data from SCI 1998 Contd…
Collaborating countries
SG TH MY ID PH
CA 24 13 8 17 11
JP 43 89 25 39 42
US 161 166 28 63 58
FR 10 17 7 18 11
DE 12 28 4 30 11
IT 4 6 8 4 0
UK 81 79 69 16 16
Number of papers co-authored by authors from Asian countries with authors from advanced countries
Data from SCI 1998
No. of signers
World (182 countries) 30713
TH 34
PH 33
ID 42
MY 65
SG 45
VN 9
BD 7
MM -
LK 18
Signers of Public Library of Science Open Letter (as of June 2002)
No. of signers
US 3265
UK 1020
Japan 70
France 2521
Canada 569
Germany 996
Italy 894
Signers of PLoS from G7 countries
low volume of work as reflected by published journal literature
low level of patenting activity
low level of international collaboration
Science in South East Asia is characterized by
Income levels and access to technology (telecom, computers, Internet, etc.) is by and large better than India, China and other South Asian countries. However, in some of these countries IT is used much more effectively in business rather than in science and higher education.
In both these aspects, there are wide disparities among South East Asian nations.
Worldwide, there is great interest in making access to journals barrier free. Asian countries should take advantage of this movement and reap maximum benefit. The first step is to create awareness among scientists, librarians and policy makers. This could be achieved through traveling workshops with champions of open access such as Stevan Harnad, Steve Hitchcock, Paul Ginsparg, Leslie Chan and Peter Suber.
We may take advantage of efforts made by the
Third World Academy of Sciences Inter Academy Panel INASP OAI consortium Philanthropic foundations that support
such movements