Internationalization of scientific publishing over time: Analysing publishers and fields differences

Abstract

The changes in journal internationality in mainstream science were examined using 1,398 journals and 2,557,229 papers during 1991–2014. The authors’ country of affiliation in journals’ papers and references of multinational and national publishers were analysed. The results showed that journals’ papers and references have become more globalized over time. On average, older journals are more international than the newer ones. Although multinational publishers publish more international journals than the national ones do, journals from national publishers have internationalized faster than those from multinationals. The difference between these two groups of publishers is much greater in authoring compared to referencing. For both groups of publishers, the most changes in journal internationality occurred between the fourth and sixth year of indexing in Web of Science. Journals and papers in Humanities journals have the highest rate of increase of internationality although Natural Sciences and Engineering and Technology have the most international papers. Agricultural Sciences has the least international papers; however, these papers cite a wider range of countries’ papers compared to other fields. Journals in Medical and Health Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Agricultural Sciences have the most international references.

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