Impact of GDP, Spending on R&D, Number of Universities and Scientific Journals on Research Publications among Asian Countries

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the impact of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, spending on Research and Development (R&D), number of universities, and Indexed Scientific Journals on total number of research documents (papers), citations per document and Hirsch index (H-index) in various science and social science subjects among Asian countries. Materials and Methods: In this study, 40 Asian countries were included. The information regarding Asian countries, their GDP per capita, spending on R&D, total number of universities and indexed scientific journals were collected. We recorded the bibliometric indicators, including total number of research documents, citations per document and H-index in various science and social sciences subjects during the period 1996-2011. The main sources for information were World Bank, SCI-mago/Scopus and Web of Science; Thomson Reuters. Results: The mean per capita GDP for all the Asian countries is 14448.31 +/- 2854.40 US$, yearly per capita spending on R&D 0.64 +/- 0.16 US$, number of universities 72.37 +/- 18.32 and mean number of ISI indexed journal per country is 17.97 +/- 7.35. The mean of research documents published in various science and social science subjects among all the Asian countries during the period 1996-2011 is 158086.92 +/- 69204.09; citations per document 8.67 +/- 0.48; and H-index 122.8 +/- 19.21. Spending on R&D, number of universities and indexed journals have a positive correlation with number of published documents, citations per document and H-index in various science and social science subjects. However, there was no association between the per capita GDP and research outcomes. Conclusion: The Asian countries who spend more on R&D have a large number of universities and scientific indexed journals produced more in research outcomes including total number of research publication, citations per documents and H-index in various science and social science subjects.