Elsevier

Energy Policy

Volume 30, Issue 2, January 2002, Pages 131-136
Energy Policy

National patterns of research output and priorities in renewable energy

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-4215(01)00084-2Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper attempts to compare the research output and priorities of 25 major countries in renewable energy research. The main objective is to assess the research priorities of the major countries in frontier areas/subjects of renewable energy using some bibliometric measures based on renewable energy literature. Subjects of high activity and subjects of low activity are identified for two time periods (1996–1997 and 1998–1999). Our findings show that the output of publications including articles, reviews, letters, notes, editorials, and book reviews of India, Greece, and Belgium declined between 1996–1997 and 1998–1999. All measures indicate that in the USA all subjects of renewable energy received more or less the same priority. The rest of the countries had differentiated high- or low-priority profiles in different subjects. Among the main research subjects of renewable energy only photovoltaic technology (PV) had a fairly homogenous profile for all countries.

Introduction

The publication pattern of a country is tantamount to a signature (Ojasso et al., 1994). It is an indicator of its capacity and commitment to perform mainstream research in certain specific areas. The research output in different areas/subjects of science in a country is not a random event. It is the cumulative effect of resources allocation and policy decisions in the past for different areas/sub-areas of science, whether explicitly or implicitly. If there are more publications in a particular area compared to another, it means more resources and more facilities in that particular area compared to the other. Thus the publication profile of a country can be visualized as an indicator of its research priorities (Uzun, 1998). Tracking the imbalances in the structure of research priorities is of fundamental concern to science/research policy. Policy makers are frequently confronted with such questions: What priorities are being given to different areas/sub-areas of science? How do they compare with those of other countries? What are the areas that are receiving low priority in the country, but are accorded high priority elsewhere and vice versa?

The main objective of this paper is to identify priorities and potential holes in the research agenda of major countries in the field of renewable energy, using a bibliometric indicator. This indicator, based on the distribution of publications in different subjects, is concerned with the structure rather than the size of the research area in countries of different sizes.

In the national context, an earlier study (Van de Ven and Feary, 1984) has suggested that in order to understand the policy process, it is essential to take a dynamic view of the underlying variables rather than a static snapshot. The same is true in the case of research policy too. Therefore, a collateral objective would be to track the priorities over long periods, e.g., at least four or five years.

Section snippets

Data and methodology

The data on publication output of 25 major countries in nine subjects (see Appendix A, and 2 for the names of the countries, and the details of the nine subjects respectively) of renewable energy were compiled from the CD-ROM versions of the Science Citation Index (SCI), and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) databases for two time-spans: indexing years: 1996–1997 and 1998–1999. The period of two years is considered as minimum essential to smoothen, as far as possible, the year-to-year

General overview of the data

The output and world share of publications in different subjects for two time-spans: 1996–1997 and 1998–1999 are given in Table 1. The largest topic-PV-alone accounts for more than 65% of the total output in each time-span (68.2% in 1996–1997 and 65.9% in 1998–1999).

The world share of low energy architecture (LEA), Wind Energy Generation, and Geothermal applications increased significantly in the intervening period between 1996–1997 and 1998–1999. These topics registered above-average growth

Conclusion

A comparative analysis of the research priorities, particularly the identification of areas that need to be emphasized or de-emphasized, has important implications for strategic planning in science, especially the allocation of resources to different areas and identification of research areas and countries for transnational cooperation in research. Tracking of trends and priorities in time can provide important insights into the impact of resource allocation decisions taken in the past.

The

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