The global science base of information and communication technologiges: Bibliometric analysis of ICT research papers

The science and engineering base is a key source of knowledge for the development and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). In order to be able to effectively describe and monitor world-wide scientific activity related to ICTs, it is important to be able to provide reliable macro-level statistics of this knowledge base. International bibliographic databases and related bibliometric indicators together provide an analytical framework and appropriate measures to cover both the ‘supply side’—research capabilities and outputs—and ‘demand side’—collaboration, diffusion and citation impact—related to the ICT research. This paper presents results of such a bibliometric study describing macro-level features of this ICT knowledge base. The data were retrieved from a specially developedCWTS ICT Database which provides a broad-scope world-wide coverage of ICT-relevant research papers published in high-quality international scientific and technical journals. The cross-country comparison focuses on the level of scientific output and co-operation patterns of the most actively publishing nations with a focus on the three Triad zones—the European Union, the USA and Japan.