Luis M. Plaza

The transfer of knowledge from the Spanish public R&D system to the productive sectors in the field of Biotechnology

To determine the capability and resources of the Spanish R & D system to produce knowledge useful for the Biotechnology industries, an analysis of indicators derived from published work, scientific papers cited in US patents and inventions patented, has been carried out. The results show that the number of publications compares well with that of other European countries. The visibility of those publications seems evident as about two thirds of the authors studied have been cited in patents assigned to foreign enterprises, but very few of them have applied for patents. This is analysed in connection with the existing policies.

The representation of nationalities on the editorial boards of international journals and the promotion of the scientific output of the same countries

This paper analyses the nationalities of the editorial board members of the top 20 journals (according to their impact factor in the ISI Journal Citation Report, Science Edition 2005) serving 15 scientific disciplines. A total of 281 journals were analysed (some journals crossed disciplinary boundaries) and 10,055 of their editorial board members were identified. Some 53% of board members were from the United States. Europe provided 32%, with the United Kingdom making the greatest contribution (9.8%). The analysis of scientific output by nationality in these journals showed a significant correlation, in all disciplines, with the representation of the corresponding nations on the editorial boards. The composition of editorial boards may therefore provide a useful indicator for measuring a country’s international scientific visibility. The present results should be taken into account in the design of national policies with the aim of enhancing the presence of a country’s most prestigious scientists on the editorial boards of the main international journals.

Scientific and technological performance evaluation of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in the field of Biotechnology

An evaluation of the Spanish CSIC performance in Biotechnology, as compared with those of the French CNRS and the Italian CNR, has been carried out to determine the balance between the generation of scientific knowledge and the transfer of technology. This study shows a high scientific productivity mostly in journals with moderate impact factor, a low generation of patents and an insufficient transfer of knowledge to the Spanish companies. Other indicators confirm the existence of competitive human resources in biotechnological research producing scientific knowledge of interest for the development of patents and that cooperates successfully at European level.

CHANGES ON PUBLISHING BEHAVIOR IN RESPONSE TO RESEARCH POLICY GUIDELINES. THE CASE OF THE SPANISH RESEARCH COUNCIL IN THE FIELD OF AGRONOMY

The aim of this study is to identify changes in publishing behavior of Spanish scientists belonging to the Area of Agronomy of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), in response to scientific policy actions carried out in Spain. For this purpose, we analyze Spanish scientific output published in Spanish journals (covered by the ICYT database), as well as in international journals (covered by theScience Citation Index), during the period 1980–1995. Congress and conference publications, books and monographs, are also considered. The following changes in publication habits have been noticed: migration of works towards SCI journals and increased use of books and monographs as channel of publication of research works. A decreasing participation of Spanish researchers in scientific meetings has also been noticed, especially since 1989.

Analysis of Spanish scientific output following the Joint Action Program (Acciones Integradas) of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCYT)

The Joint Action Program is one of the instruments of the Spanish National R&D System, to promote the mobility of scientists as well as co-operation with foreign research centers of prestige. This work aims to evaluate this Joint Action Program, by means of the scientific output resulting from the joint research projects supported during the period 1996 to 1999. The main indicator is the co-authored articles published in international journals. This evaluation takes also into account the consolidation of previous scientific relationships among Spanish and foreign partners, the establishing of new collaborations and the participation of PhD students in the Actions financed. Results from this study allow us to conclude that the Joint Action Program of the Spanish MCYT efficiently promotes the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge and the mobility of researchers. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Scientific literature cited in USPTO patent documents as indicators for the evaluation and analysis of Spanish scientific research in biomedical disciplines

The use of indicators based on the analysis of the scientific literature cited in patent documents is proposed for the evaluation of biomedical research. A study carried out on several groups of researchers working in universities, public research centers, and hospitals, has shown that an important percentage of Spanish scientists have authored publications that are cited in US patents in the field of Biotechnology. The study and analysis of those cites allows a evaluation of the flow of knowledge generated by the different groups of scientists towards the development of technologies, and to learn on the relationship between the characteristics of the cited publications and the frequency they are cited in the patents. The results obtained avail the use of new indicators based on the cites in patents to perform a more complete evaluation of the published research related with Biotechnology and Biomedicine, both at the level of research institutions and individual scientists.

Scientific relations between Spain and central-Eastern European countries for the period 1982–1992

This paper analyzes the scientific relationships between Spain and the Eastern European countries (EEc), including the former USSR, from 1982 to 1992. The study considers the number of co-authored papers as well as the number of stays which reflect to the exchange of scientists among them. The total number of co-authored papers of Spanish scientists with their colleagues of those countries is 664 as recorded in theScience Citation Index. During the last three years, a significative increase in the number of co-signed papers has been observed. From the sample considered, the percentage of bilateral and multilateral co-authored papers is 43.8 and 56.2 respectively. In absolute figures, USSR and Poland are the countries with highest number of collaborative papers with Spain. However, in relation to their scientific output, Poland and Hungary show a higher percentage of co-authored papers than the rest of EEc. On the other hand, previous data, provided by the Spanish Secretary of State for Research and Universities (SEUI), related to the flow of scientists on sabbatical year to and from Spain,1 showed that from 1984 to 1994, a total of 213 researches come from the EEc to Spain, while the number of Spanish scientists going to those countries was extremely scarce.

El valor del idioma español en ciencia y tecnología

We analyse the specific weight of the Spanish as a primary language in scientific journals published in Spain and Latin American countries, as well as through the global scientific output covered by the main bibliographic databases of international coverage. The study highlights the importance of the Spanish as a language of scientific communication in certain disciplinary areas linked on the one hand to socio-economic regional interests of Spanish-speaking countries, as it is the case of Clinical medicine, Geology and Environment, and, on the other, to certain scientific fields of the Social sciences and Humanities, as it is the case of the Regional economy, the Literature, the History of Ibero-American countries, etc. This study aims to contribute to the better knowledge and understanding of the real and potential value of the Spanish in the scientific world, with regard to the appropriate use of this resource for the development of our societies, and its cultural and economic projection at the international level.

Investigación científica española sobre treinta patologías de origen genético

Introduccion Se ha realizado un estudio de la produccion cientifica espanola durante el periodo 2000-2005, sobre las treinta patologias de origen genetico incluidas en la encuesta de la OCDE sobre ensayos geneticos moleculares. Resultados En revistas MedLine aparecen 105 articulos sobre 20 de las patologias consideradas, lo que supone el 0,4% de la produccion mundial. Sin embargo, esta contribucion es superior al 2% en el caso de algunas de la patologias mundialmente menos estudiadas. En las bases espanolas IME/ISOC/ICYT aparecen 266 articulos sobre 25 patologias, con lo que la contribucion espanola es equivalente al 1,4% del total mundial, valor inferior al observado en el campo de la Biomedicina y Ciencias de la Salud (2,4%). Espana ha publicado mas articulos en las patologias estudiadas que Holanda o Portugal y menos que Italia y Francia, aunque en algunas patologias el numero de articulos espanoles es superior al de todos estos paises. Analisis El 52% de los articulos publicados en revistas MedLine han sido citados un promedio de 12 veces y son de caracter mas basico que los incluidos en IME, que en una gran proporcion son de caracter aplicado y aparecen en revistas de Pediatria. El 65% de los articulos espanoles proceden de 97 laboratorios en hospitales publicos, 10 de los cuales han publicado el 43% de los articulos aparecidos en MedLine y son los que muestran un cierto grado de especializacion en al menos cinco patologias.

The use of multiple databases in the assesment of research. An application in the field of plant science

This paper argues the convenience of considering multiple databases in order to obtain a reliable set of scientific indicators in case of fields that includes a variety of disciplines. With this aim we analyse the Spanish scientific output in Plant Sciences regarding mainstream literature covered by SCI database and that published in domestic journals covered by ICYT database. This method allows us to obtain two different profiles of research. These results clearly underly the need to consider these databases jointly, thus avoiding potential inaccuracies induced by the use of the SCI as the only information source to be considered for the assessment of research.