Bronze for Australia in Antarctic publications

Australia was recently ranked third in the world for the number of scientific papers published on Antarctic research between 1980 and 2003. According to a statistical analysis in Current Science last year, Australia published 1259 scientific papers in 934 journals over this 24-year period, behind the USA on 3311 and the UK on 1738. These Australian papers were also cited 3782 times in scientific papers from other countries.

The study compared the number of papers published on Antarctica, within the context of the Antarctic Treaty System, which provides the framework within which much Antarctic research is conducted. The top 20 rankings were filled by Consultative (voting) Parties to the Treaty (except Canada at number 14), while ‘acceding states’ (non-voting) and other countries external to the Antarctic Treaty System, showed considerable productivity in the next 15 rankings. The study also showed that Australia was the fifth biggest contributor to collaborative research, reflecting the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty system, which aims to ensure Antarctica remains a continent of science and peace.

More information:

  • Dastidar PG and Persson O (2005). Mapping the global structure of Antarctic research vis-à-vis Antarctic Treaty System. Current Science Vol 89, No 9: 1552–1554.
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