Analysis of global inequality in research outcome using the Gini coefficient

Purpose This study attempts to prove the extent of the gaps in the academic ecosystem by using the Gini coefficient. Design/methodology/approach This study measures the gap between research document volume and citation by country and academic field using the latest ten years of research data of the Web of Science. Findings As a result, there is a large volume of documents in the USA and China, and the gap between global countries is g = 0.88 with high inequality. The fields of arts and humanities and social sciences are led by British and American cultures, and the gap between countries (g = 0.91, 0.89) is larger than in other fields. In the meantime, there is also inequality (g = 0.40) about the volumes of research documents between six academic fields, and the gap between the average numbers of citations per publication is the highest in social science (g = 0.80) and the lowest in life science (g = 0.71). Originality/value This study proves the extent of the gaps in the academic ecosystem by using the Gini coefficient with large amount research data.