SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS OF CHINA IN 1994 - EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION

SCI data bases have been widely used to analyse scientific production of various nations, their position in the international research commu nity as well as their fields specializations. In the present study we examined, within the same methodological framework, the impact of the drastic reorientation of science funding systems which occured in Chin a (PRC) in the midst of the eighties. A decade after this turning poin t the pattern of Chinese publications from the 1994 SCI-CDRom reflects those of other countries although with its own peculiarities i.e. a r elative weakness of life sciences and a prevalence of fundamental phys ics compared to the world average. Some effect of PRC's policy could n evertheless: be detected on this SCI profile like e.g. a neat increase of international papers after the opening of the country or the relat ively high weight of collaborative works with laboratories from Hong K ong. We suggest that SCI data base is best suited for the analysis of public research of international standard due to the narrowness of the SCI window concerning applied research.