A MULTIVARIATE-ANALYSIS OF PUBLICATION TRENDS IN THE 1980S WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOUTH-EAST ASIA

This study is a follow-up to a published Correspondence Factor Analysi s (CFA) of a dataset of over 6 million bibliometric entries. In the pr evious paper, CFA was used to show how the 48 most prolific countries stand in relation to each with regard to their publication interests i n 17 specific disciplinary areas and one multidisciplinary field over the period 1981-1992. In this paper, we illustrate how the publication profiles of these 48 countries evolved over rime during this period. We have (i) shown how analysis of the dataset highlights cutting edge versus ancient disciplines; (ii) identified the countries whose public ation patterns underwent the most marked changes (e.g. the Asian drago ns who chose to focus on engineering, materials sciences, computer sci ences and molecular biology), and (iii) revealed the widespread attrac tion exerted by the publication pattern of the USA. There is, without doubt, an overall shift toward an American-style pattern that may be a true reflection of research interests worldwide but that may also be explained by the hegemony of those who hold the reins of international publication.