Science in the Philippines: A bibliographic and bibliometric analysis of the periodical literature

Abstract

The contribution of Philippine scientists to the world periodical literature, and the sources cited by these scientists, were investigated. Eleven research questions provided focus for the study. A major source of data was the Science Citation Index for the period, 1975-1985.

Almost all of the papers published by Philippine scientists are in English and appear in journals published internationally. A very high percentage (39 percent) of them appear in the US journals. The scatter of the papers over journal titles was plotted to show the influence of Philippine science.

The most productive research centers in the Philippines are the internationally funded research institutions located in the country plus the largest state funded university. The leading international research center in terms of publication output is the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The majority (53 percent) of the papers produced by the international agencies in the Philippines are authored by non-Philippine scientists. Local Philippine scientists affiliated with these agencies contribute only 14 percent of these papers. One third of all papers from the international agencies are co-authored by Philippine and non-Philippine scientists.

Citation analysis was used to compare the extent of Philippine literature cited (a) by Philippine authors publishing internationally and nationally, (b) by Philippine scientists collaborating with the nationals of other countries and those not collaborating. Philippine scientists tend to cite more Philippine literature when they publish in a major national journal than they do when they publish internationally. However, findings on whether Philippine scientists are less likely to cite Philippine literature when collaborating with other nationals is inconclusive. These results must be viewed cautiously because only one national journal was included in the study.

Philippine scientists publish in a wide range of journals emanating from a wide range of countries but they contribute very little to the high impact journals as measured by citation. This is closely related to the focus on agriculture--agriculture journals tend not to have a high impact factor. Thus, the Philippines makes a relatively small contribution to world science.