Rosa Sancho

Misjudgments and shortcomings in the measurement of scientific activities in less developed countries

The bibliographic database widely used for measurement of scientific production either for developed or developing countries isScience Citation Index. So then, in the case of LDCs only their negligible contribution to the “mainstream” of science is evaluated. Eight LDCs productivity as obtained fromSCI is compared to that from some international specialized or multidisciplinary databases, most of which give more information than SCI for each country. In the case of Cuba,Biosis and CA supply 17 and 15 times respectively more information than the SCI in the same period. The use of Cuban local database and its comparison with international ones is also discussed.

Approach to the Cuban scientific activity by using publication based quantitative indicators (1985–1989)

An estimation about Cuban scientific productivity based on output indicators during the period 1985–1989 is provided. Nine international bibliographic databases and three Cuban repertories have been used. Except for journal articles, no other type of Cuban document gets worldwide recognition as they are not generally included in the international databases. The greater effort in research is made in Agriculture, Biomedicine, Chemistry and Engineering, but this last topic does not reach international visibility, since the majority of its results are published in local journals. The Cuban contribution to the “mainstream” of world science is increasing annually. Collaboration in high level research projects existed mainly between Cuba and either USSR, German Democratic Republic and Italy. The most productive Cuban institutions in collaborative programs are the Havana University and the Academy of Sciences.

Bibliometric approach to research performance in the field of refractory materials used in iron and steelmaking processes

A bibliometric study based on worldwide scientific and technical publications on refractory materials used in iron and steelmaking processes during 1980–87, has been carried out. Six bibliographic databases were searched and from them 2464 references were retrieved. The highest percentage of published documents were journal articles (60%), followed by patents (33%). The core journals areOgneupory (USSR) andTaikabutsu (Japan). The USSR was by far the most productive country, both in number of published papers and in number of journal titles devoted to the subject. In The Soviet Union research work is mainly carried out in universities and institutes of the Academy of Sciences. On the other hand, Japan is the most productive country in patent registered, and research work is carried out there either in private refractory companies or in steelmaking enterprises. The trend in worldwide research points towards shaped refractories, particularly based in high alumina, magnesia, zircon carbides and mixtures containing oxides and carbon, which are largely used in converters, transport ladles and continuous casting processes.