Page 7 - IDEA Study 2016 01 Publication Output

where POPcr is the population of the Czech Republic and POPi is the population of the
country compared, so that the comparison is not affected by the varying size of the
countries.14 It is also possible to normalize the figures by using Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. Table 1 shows the population size and GDP
volume of the compared countries in relation to the Czech Republic.15 It is clearly apparent
that normalization coefficients based on population size differ significantly from those
based on GDP. For instance, adjustment by population raises the actual number of
publications produced in Austria, which is smaller in population than the Czech Republic,
by 29 percent, whereas adjustment using GDP would lead to a figure 20 percent lower,
since Austria’s GDP in purchasing power parity terms is 20 percent higher than Czech
Republic’s.16

Table 1: Size of the Czech Republic in relation to other compared countries,
based on population size and the GDP

Adjustment coefficients

Population GDP

Austria 1.29 0.80
Czech Republic
Estonia 1.00 1.00
Finland
Hungary 8.30 8.74
Israel
The Netherlands 2.06 1.42
New Zealand
Poland 1.05 1.27
Slovakia
Slovenia 1.54 1.16
Sweden
0.63 0.39

2.51 1.95

0.26 0.33

1.82 2.03

5.12 5.15

1.21 0.70

Source: Authors’ calculations, using data published by the OECD (2014 and 2015)

Overview by Discipline

We have based our comparison on Discipline Sheets included in this study’s Attachment.
We will explain the structure of the Discipline Sheets and the data included therein using
the categories Chemistry, Analytical and Agricultural Economics and Policy as examples.

14 POP is equivalent to population aged 15–65 in the year 2014.

15 GDP in 2014, shown in US dollars; constant prices, constant PPP; reference year 2010.

16 Ideally, it would be better to normalize the data for each discipline in relation to an internationally
comparable volume of expenditures allocated to research in the given discipline, or to the number of
scientists working in that field. However, not only are such internationally comparable data unavailable, but
it would be impossible to determine the relation of specific persons and expenditures to a given discipline
with any considerable precision.

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