It has been repeatedly demonstrated that economic affluence is one of the main predictors of the scientific wealth of nations. Yet, the link is not as straightforward as is often presented. First, only a limited set of relatively affluent countries is usually studied. Second, there are differences between equally rich countries in their scientific success. The main aim of the present study is to find out which factors can enhance or suppress the effect of the economic wealth of countries on their scientific success, as measured by the High Quality Science Index (HQSI). The HQSI is a composite indicator of scientific wealth, which in equal parts considers the mean citation rate per paper and the percentage of papers that have reached the top 1% of citations in the Essential Science Indicators (ESI; Clarivate Analytics) database during the 11-year period from 2008 to 2018. Our results show that a high position in the ranking of countries on the HQSI can be achieved not only by increasing the number of high-quality papers but also by reducing the number of papers that are able to pass ESI thresholds but are of lower quality. The HQSI was positively and significantly correlated with the countries’ economic indicators (as measured by gross national income and Research and Development expenditure as a percentage from GDP), but these correlations became insignificant when other societal factors were controlled for. Overall, our findings indicate that it is small and well-governed countries with a long-standing democratic past that seem to be more efficient in translating economic wealth into high-quality science.

中文翻译：

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预测国家科学财富的因素

一再证明，经济富裕是国家科学财富的主要预测指标之一。然而，该链接并不像通常呈现的那样简单。首先，通常只研究有限的一组相对富裕的国家。其次，同样富裕的国家在科学成就方面存在差异。本研究的主要目的是找出哪些因素可以增强或抑制国家经济财富对其科学成功的影响，这是由高质量科学指数 (HQSI) 衡量的。HQSI 是科学财富的综合指标，它同等地考虑每篇论文的平均引用率和达到基本科学指标 (ESI; Clarivate Analytics) 数据库在 2008 年至 2018 年的 11 年期间。我们的结果表明，不仅可以通过增加高质量论文的数量，还可以通过减少数量来实现在 HQSI 国家排名中的高位能够通过 ESI 阈值但质量较低的论文。HQSI 与各国的经济指标（以国民总收入和研发支出占 GDP 的百分比来衡量）呈显着正相关，但在控制其他社会因素后，这些相关性变得不显着。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，在将经济财富转化为高质量科学方面，拥有长期民主历史的小国和治理良好的国家似乎更有效。我们的结果表明，不仅可以通过增加高质量论文的数量，还可以通过减少能够通过 ESI 阈值但质量较低的论文数量，在 HQSI 上的国家排名中获得较高的位置。HQSI 与各国的经济指标（以国民总收入和研发支出占 GDP 的百分比来衡量）呈显着正相关，但在控制其他社会因素后，这些相关性变得不显着。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，在将经济财富转化为高质量科学方面，拥有长期民主历史的小国和治理良好的国家似乎更有效。我们的结果表明，不仅可以通过增加高质量论文的数量，还可以通过减少能够通过 ESI 阈值但质量较低的论文数量，在 HQSI 上的国家排名中获得较高的位置。HQSI 与各国的经济指标（以国民总收入和研发支出占 GDP 的百分比来衡量）呈显着正相关，但在控制其他社会因素后，这些相关性变得不显着。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，在将经济财富转化为高质量科学方面，拥有长期民主历史的小国和治理良好的国家似乎更有效。