STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced the outcomes of a comparative study of Dutch researchers' international performance, based on Scopus data and using Elsevier's SciVal research performance measurement tools. The study showed that, in a comparison that includes the top 10 R&D spending nations in the world, the Netherlands ranked No. 1 in publication impact per article and number 1 by level of international collaboration.
Furthermore, within this group the Netherlands ranks number 1 in the world in citations generated per unit of R&D spending and number 2 in publications generated per unit of R&D spending. The figures were presented at the Impact of Science Conference held in Amsterdam.
Two factors are seen to contribute to the success of the Netherlands: international collaboration and a geographically mobile research base. Of the articles written by a Netherlands-based researcher, 48.7 percent are written in collaboration with a researcher outside the country. This is a higher proportion than any of the top 10 R&D spending nations in the world. International collaboration is generally acknowledged as a positive force driving research impact and prestige.
The second factor, the mobile research base, relates to what is called 'brain circulation', or cross-border mobility of researchers. The Netherlands has a history of allowing people to move in and out, also in the science world. For example, no less than 74 percent of authors affiliated with Dutch institutions have also published at an institution in another country at some point in their careers.
