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Australian research shows size does not necessarily matter

With only 0.3 % of the world's population, Australia still punches well above its weight in terms of research published and cited

Data released in June 2007 by Thomson Scientific, the global scientific community’s chief reference point for measuring research performance, show that on a per capita basis, Australia's research efforts are impressive and it is the number two country in the world in terms of all research published.

Thomson Scientific ranked 13 countries based on published scientific papers that reached the top one per cent of most-cited papers (as identified by its Web of Science) worldwide between 1996 to 2006.

With just over 20 million people – about twice the population of the city of Guangzhou - Australia has the smallest population of the 13 countries surveyed. Between 1996 and 2006 Australia published a total of 248,189 papers making it the second most productive country to publish research papers on a per capita basis.

In terms of papers produced on a per capita basis, Australia is ranked as the second most productive country, followed by the UK at 3rd, US 4th, Germany 5th, France 6th, and China at 12th, India 13th.

Importantly, with the key measure of research quality is the number of times other researchers cite papers, and against this criterion Australia ranked a respectable eighth with a total of 2,804 papers classed among the top one per cent of most cited papers by the scientific community.

Again, when this is adjusted for population Australia jumps to fourth, demonstrating the quality of Australian researchers with published papers extensively cited by the scientific community around the world.

Australia's combination of its low cost research base and impressive pool of talent, make it a highly competitive destination for research.

For further information, contact Ellen Chen, Public Affairs Officer on（020）3814 0183.

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