Highly Ranked Scholars and the influence of countries and regions in research fields, disciplines, and specialties

Abstract

Abstract The scholarly influence of a country or region can be inferred from its number of exceptional scientists in specific research areas. Using the ScholarGPS database, we provide the first analysis of the number and geographical distribution of Highly Ranked ScholarsTM from a universe of over 30 million scholars in more than 200 countries. The associated influence of nations is reported for 14 broad fields of scholarly pursuit, two disciplines (Chemistry and Computer Science), and three specialties (Artificial Intelligence, Polymer, and Stem Cell). By comparing numbers of Highly Ranked Scholars for the last 5 years to lifetime information, we quantify the growth and decay of the influence of multiple countries and regions and identify those that are emerging in their influence. For the research areas considered here, the United States has the largest recent reduction in influence, whereas China, India, and Iran have increased their influence notably.