On the concentration of productivity and impact in science and technology

摘要

As the productivity and impact of papers and patents have increased in recent years, this study attempts to explore whether the productivity and impact from academic research and technology are concentrated on a few countries by analysis with various indicators, namely HHI. This study finds the papers and patents are in fact concentrated on a few countries, but the concentration rate has declined over the years. The patent concentration is higher than paper concentration and decreases at a slower rate in compared to papers, even if United States is excluded from the analysis. The distribution of papers and patents are more dispersed through the years. The study also finds a correlation between the distribution of papers/patents and the GDP of a country, while population is only correlated with paper productivity. In analysis that excluded United States, the correlation results are similar in the case of patents.