statistical analysis of astronomical papers of china during 1986–1990

Jointly published by Elsevier Science B. 14., Amsterdam

and Akad~miai Kiad6, Budapest

Scientometrics,

VoL 32, No. 3 (1995) 237-245

S T A T I S T I C A L A N A L Y S I S O F A S T R O N O M I C A L P A P E R S

O F C H I N A D U R I N G 1 9 8 6 - 1 9 9 0

JINMING LIU, SIZHU SHU

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030 (P, R. China)

(Received September 15, 1994)

We present the distribution of astronomical papers published by Chinese authors in 1986-1990 across the various subfields of astronomy, the total number of papers produced by each observatory or university during the five years, and the ranking of the observatories by productivity. Our main data base includes 24 journals: 9 foreign ones published in English, 10 Chinese national ones, and 5 Chinese observatoi'y publications. About 70 journals published by Chinese universities have also been consulted. This data base covers up to 90% of all astronomical papers published during this period.

Introduction

In certain extent, the number of research papers reflexes the activity and academic level of a scientist. The number of research papers of an institute each year is often used as a quantitative indicator for evaluating its basic research. According to this view, we had made some discussions about this subject in the paper "Statistic Analysis of Three Kinds of Astronomical Journals" (Liu Jinming et al., 1990). However, the data base used in 1990 only limited to three journals, the conclusions obtained seem to be inconvinced. In this paper, 10 Chinese national journals, 5 Chinese observatory publications have been used as the domestic data base. Meanwhile, 9 foreign journals in English have been used as the external data base. The total number of 2454 papers has been obtained. Various statistic analyses for these papers have been done. The essential results are given in the tables.

By the way, it is obvious that because astronomers are engaged in different kinds of work (for example, administration of observatories, institutes; teaching of students; design and construction of astronomical equipments, etc.), we should not measure their academic level only by the number of their research papers. And we must point out that the cited frequency of research papers also reflexes the activity and academic level of an astronomer. In this paper we will not make any discussion on it.

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JINMING LIU, SIZHU SHU: ASTRONOMICAL PAPERS OF CHINA 1986-1990

Data base and analysis methods

We select the following 9 foreign journals in English as the external data base:

Astron. Astrophys., A.J., Ap. J., Astrophys. Space Sci., Bull. Geo., Cel. Mech., M. N. R. A. S., Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., Solar Phys.. The following 10 Chinese national

journals are selected as the domestic data base: Acta Astron Sinica, Acta Astrophys. Sinica, Prog. in Astron., Chin. 3". Space Sci., Sci. Sin. Set A, Chin. Sin. Bull., Acta Geophys. Sin., Acta Geodaetica et Cartographica, Acta Metrologia Sin., Studies of the History of Natural Sci.; 5 Chinese observatory publications are: Annals of Shanghai Observatory, Aca. Sin., PubL of Purpul Mountain Observatory, Publ. of Yunnan Observatory, Publ. of Beijing Astronomical Observatory. More than 70 journals published by Chinese universities are also referenced.

Considering the fact that there are some differences in academic level between

the journal papers and the papers of Chinese observatory publications, the statistics

of these papers are made separately. The ranking of the observatories by productivity

is essentially based on the total number of journal papers.

For keeping the readers analysing and comparing these statistics in detail, the

number of papers in Chinese national journals and that one in foreign journals are

separately given.

In making statistics for the number of an institute's papers it is counted by the

first author's institute for Chinese national journals. Meanwhile, for foreign journal

papers, it is counted by the first Chinese author's institute.

It is necessary to point out that we should discuss the covering domain of papers

in the data base, because we have not used more journals in the data base. The

statistical analysis of 321 abstracts (1972-1985) issued in PubL of Yunnan Astronomical Observatory Suppl. 1987 shows that 98 journal papers and 179 papers of

Chinese observatory publications are included in the domain of data base of this paper. 20 journal papers are not included in the data base. Besides, there are 16

conference papers, one special report, 5 popular science papers. If we make statistic according to journal papers, the papers included in the domain of data base of this

paper will cover 83% of all journal papers. After including the papers of Chinese observatory publications, the ratio will be more higher. It can reach 93%. The

statistical analysis of abstracts (1988) issued in Publ. of Purple Mountain Observatory, 1989, No. 4 shows that the above ratios are respectively 80% and 92%. Thus it can be

concluded that the covering domain of the data base of this paper has reached 80%-

90%. The statistics based on such a large sample are convinced.

238 Scientornetrics 32 (1995)

JINMING LIU, SIZHU SHU; ASTRONOMICAL PAPERS OF CHINA 1986-1990

Main statistical results

The distribution of all subfields of papers of foreign journals (1986-1990), the

one of all subfields of papers of Chinese national journals, the one of papers of

Chinese observatory publications, the one of all subfields of journal papers of China

and papers all over the world are given respectively in the Tables l(a), (b), (c), (d).

Table l(a)

Distribution of all subfields of papers of foreign journals (1986-1990)

Journals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Sum

A.A. 4 6 8 1 3 20 7 23 1 73 A.J. 1 5 1 1 24 1 33 Ap. J. 1 7 3 13 6 2 16 48 Ap. Space Sci. 3 15 3 1 1 14 1 1 1 40 Bull. Geo. 2 2 Cel. Mech. 10 10 M. N. R.A.S. 1 4 5 P .A.S.P . 1 3 2 1 7 Solar Phys. 24 24

10 24 30 31 1 4 51 14 8 65 3 1 242

4.1 9.9 12.4 12.8 0.4 1.7 21.1 5.8 3.3 26.9 1.2 0.4 100%

Sum

Percentage (%)

Notes: in Table l(a), (b), (c), (d):

1. Astronomical Instrum. 2. Position Astron. and Celes. Mech. 3. Space Research 4. Theoretical Astrophys. 5. Sun 6. Earth �9 7. Planets

8. Stars 9. Interstellar Matter 10. Radio, X-ray Sources, Cosmic Rays 11. Stellar System, Galaxy, Extragalactic Objects, Cosmology 12 History of Astronomy 13 Others

Scientometrics 32 (1995) 239

JINMING LIU, SIZHU SHU: A S T R O N O M I C A L PAPERS OF CHINA 1986-1990

Table l(b)

Distribution of all subfields of papers of Chinese national journals (1986-1990)

Journals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Sum

Acta Astron. Sin. 36 87 46 9 42 1 5 35 10 271 Acta Astrophys. Sin. 22 24 57 1 11 59 10 3 51 1 239 Prog. in Astron. 18 35 4 7 27 6 23 3 8 34 1 5 171 Chin. J. Space Sci. 8 1 47 43 12 1 1 2 Sci. Sin. Ser A 4 13 12 9 8 3 11 1 20 Chin. Sci. Bull. 11 8 7 4 4 2 1 18 Acta Geophys. Sin. 2 21 Acta Geod. Cartogra. 10 2 Acta Metrol. Sin. 11 Stud. His. Nat. Sci. J. of Univ. in China 3 44 6 71 4 14 8 20

115 81 55 23 12 11

51 51 4 12 9 3 198

Sum " 102 203 10 122 197 93 53 158 16 23 170 72 8 1227 Percentage(%) 8.3 16,5 0.8 9.9 16.1 7.6 4.3 12.9 1,3 1.9 13.9 5.9 0.7 100%

Table l(c)

Distribution of all subfields of Chinese observatory publications (1986-1990)

Chinese Obs. Publ. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Sum

Ann. Shanghai Obs. 71 49 4 4 4 3 1 3 1 140 Purple Mountain 61 24 3 23 35 2 12 2 5 1 1 7 176 Yunnan Obs. 105 43 1 14 115 84 6 9 1 5 3 4 390 Beijing Obs. 92 14 1 10 27 6 16 27 8 4 5 2 212 Shaanxi. Obs. 30 44 2 8 2 4 90

Sum Percentage (%)

359 174 7 51 177 104 40 41 13 5 12 13 12 1008 35.6 17,3 0,7 5.1 17.6 10.3 4.0 4.1 1.3 0.5 1.2 1.3 1.2 100%

Table l (d)

Distribution of all subfields of journal papers of China and of papers of all over the world (1986-1990)

Papers and Percentage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Sum of Journal Papers of China Percentage (%) Papers over the world Percentage (%)

112 227 10 152 228 94 57 209 30 27 239 75 9 7.6 15.5 0.7 10.3 15.5 6,4 3.9 14.2 2.0 1.8 16,3 5.1 0.7

8812 3248 1651 12166 7654 3043 15383 16876 6138 2256 19837 1316 8.9 3.3 1.7 12.4 7,8 3.1 15.6 17.2 6.2 2.3 20.2 1.3

Papers all over the world are cited from A. A. A.

240 Scientometrics 32 (1995)


The dis t r ibut ion of Table l ( d ) are shown in Fig. 1. The number of papers of each

observatory (or university) during 1986-1990, the ranking of the observator ies by

product ivi ty is given in Table 2.

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Subfield

Fig. 1. Distribution of all subfields of journal papers of China and of paper all over the world (1986-1990). 1. Astronomical Instrum., 2. Position Astron. and Celes. Mech., 3. Space Research, 4. Theoretical Astrophysics, 5. Sun, 6. Earth, 7. Planets, 8. Stars, 9. Interstellar Matter, 10. Radio, X-ray, Sources, Cosmic Ray, 11. Stellar Systems, Galaxy, Extragalactic Objects, Cosmology, 12. History of Astronomy, 13. Others. - ..... Papers all over the world; Journal papers of China

There is a difference be tween the sum of foreign journa l papers in Table l ( a ) and

in Table 3. It is caused by the statist ical errors. There is also a difference be tween the

sum of Chinese na t ional jou rna l papers and papers of Chinese observatory

publ icat ions in Table l ( b ) + l ( c ) and Table 3. These two statistical e r rors a re

both 1%.

Table 3 Papers of China each year (1986-1990)

Papers 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Sum

Foreign Journals 35 42 46 47 74 244 Chinese National J.

and Chinese Obs. Publ. 454 398 404 468 486 2210

Sum 489 440 450 515 560 2454



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JINMING LIU, SIZHU SHU: ASTRONOMICAL PAPERS OF CHINA 1986 - 1990

The total number of separate authors for papers of foreign and national journals

in the data base is 452. Among the 529 authors which published papers of Chinese

observatory publications, 341 ones had not published journal papers. Thus the total

number of separate authors for journal papers and papers of Chinese observatory

publications is 793. The sum of astronomical papers of China during this period is

2454. The average production per year for each author is 0.6 paper per year.

Among all members of Chinese Astronomical Society, there are 1077

astronomers. So the number of the authors which published astronomical papers is

74% of all astronomers of CAS.

Discussion

It can be seen from Table l(d) that the percentages of all subfields of journal

papers of China are as follow: papers on position astronomy and celestial mechanics,

papers on the Sun, papers on stars, papers on Galaxy and universe are about in the

same place. The percentages are respectively 15.5%, 15.5%, 14.2% and 16.3%. The

number of papers on these four subfields is 61.5% of all subfields of journal papers

of China.

We can see from Table l(d) that China has high percentages in the following

subfields: position astronomy and celestial mechanics, Sun, Earth, astronomical

history. China has low percentages in subfields of planets and interstellar matter. For other subfields, China has the same percentages with respect to the world's.

From Table 1(c) we can see that the distribution of all subfields of Chinese

observatory publications are different from the distribution of journal papers of

China. This is mainly caused by the editorial policy of Chinese observatory

publications.

The reasons for causing these distribution differences in Table l(d) are different. The discussion on the reasons goes on beyond the scope of this paper.

It can be seen from Table 3 that the average increasing rate per year for papers of

Chinese national journals and of Chinese observatory publications is 2.9% from 1986-1990. it can be also seen that the average increasing rate per year for foreign journal papers is about 16% during this period.

The discussions above merely stress on the number of papers. Further statistical study should be done according to the properties of each paper. For example,

analyzing which papers belong to theoretical ones, their results are obtained either

from foreign data or from Chinese data; which papers belong to observational

244 Scientometrics 32 (1995)


results, these results are obtained either from foreign instruments or from Chinese

instruments; which papers belong to reviews, which papers belong to introductions;

which papers are cooperated with foreign astronomers. Furthermore, those statistical researches on tracing some large telescopes are also very important.

The draft of this paper has been consulted by Prof. Su Hongjun, Ding Youji, and Associate Prof. Liu Ciyuan. We have got much help from their opinion. Meanwhile, many Chinese astronomers have provided their bibliography to us. This data is very useful for us to make accurate statistics. We are heartily thankful to them for their help. And we are especially thankful to the Astronomical Committee, Chinese Academy of Sciences for supporting this research work.

References

1. H.A. ABT, PASP, 102 (1991), 1161. 2. G. BtJRKI-thRDT, U. ESSER, H. HEFELE, et al., Abstracts ofAstronorny and Astrophysics, 1986-1990. 3. JINMING Lira, SIZHU SHU, Chinese Journal of Scientific and Technical Journals, 1 (1990) 43. 4. BOCHU, LI et al., Publ. of Yunnan Astronomical Observatory Suppl., (1987). 5. Scientific Research Planning Office, Publ. of Purple Mountain Observatory, 8 (1988), 296.


statistical analysis of astronomical papers of china during 1986–1990

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