Page 21 - IDEA Study 1 2016 Publication Output

citation rate.24 Such journals therefore increase the overall Czech publication output, but it is not clear whether they actually contribute to universal scientific knowledge. The WoS data have also allowed us to summarize the differences in research field structure in the countries under comparison on the discipline group level. Table 2 shows the shares of various discipline groups in overall publication output in the Czech Republic and other compared countries. It is apparent that compared internationally, Czech social and medical sciences have an unusually low share in the overall publication output, and especially in the outstanding publication output.25 In contrast, the natural sciences group in the Czech Republic shows an exceptionally high share in both aspects. The share of technical and agricultural science groups in the Czech Republic is on a par with the standard international level. Table 2: Percentages of the total number of articles and articles in the 1st quartile in various scientific field groups Scientific field group All articles Articles in the 1st quartile Czech Rep. Others Czech Rep. Others Agricultural Sciences 4% 3% 4% 3% Engineering and Technology 17% 15% 18% 15% Medical and Health Sciences 15% 24% 13% 23% Natural Sciences 59% 48% 63% 52% Social Sciences 5% 10% 2% 7% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% Source: Authors’ calculations based on WoS data Final Notes Effective management of the R&D system on all levels requires a solid awareness of the focus, productivity and output of all scientific fields and disciplines. Insufficiently 24 Journals with an extreme degree of self-citations include, for instance, Československá psychologie (Czechoslovak Psychology), Listy cukrovarnické a řepařské (Journal of Sugar and Beet Growing Industry) and Česká a slovenská neurologie aneurochirurgie (Czech and Slovak Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery). Journals with very low self-citation rates include, for example, European Journal of Entomology and Folia Geobotanica. 25 The low share of social sciences in the Czech scientific output is in contrast with the fact that the rate of social science graduates in the Czech Republic is on a par with standard international rates. 19