The number of scientific papers is an expression of the productivity of the researchers, and the number of citations is regarded as an expression of the impact of the papers in terms of how often researchers find it necessary to quote other scientific papers.
Citation traditions differ across various disciplines. The rankings in the list of citations are thus an expression of the impact of the research as well as the fact that each country has a different research mix from various disciplines each with a citation tradition of its own.
| Rank | Country | Number of citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | 7,64 |
| 2 | Denmark | 7,11 |
| 3 | Iceland | 7,09 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 6,98 |
| 5 | United States | 6,84 |
| 6 | Sweden | 6,49 |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 6,38 |
| 8 | Belgium | 6,21 |
| 9 | Austria | 6,05 |
| 10 | Germany | 6,05 |
| 11 | Finland | 5,84 |
| 12 | Canada | 5,77 |
| 13 | Norway | 5,71 |
| 14 | France | 5,49 |
| 15 | Italy | 5,42 |
| 16 | Australia | 5,31 |
| 17 | Ireland | 5,28 |
| 18 | Spain | 4,83 |
| 19 | New Zealand | 4,67 |
| 20 | Japan | 4,6 |
| 21 | Hungary | 4,53 |
| 22 | Luxembourg | 4,41 |
| 23 | Portugal | 4,23 |
| 24 | Czech Republic | 3,84 |
| 25 | Greece | 3,84 |
| 26 | Poland | 3,3 |
| 27 | South Korea | 3,29 |
| 28 | Mexico | 3,19 |
| 29 | Slovakia | 3,05 |
| 30 | Turkey | 2,28 |
Source: Extract from "National Science Indicators" (NSI), presented in "Forskningsbarometer 2009"
| Rank | Country | Number of papers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | 11.931 |
| 2 | Sweden | 9.632 |
| 3 | Denmark | 8.737 |
| 4 | Iceland | 8.372 |
| 5 | Finland | 8.316 |
| 6 | Norway | 7.613 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 7.555 |
| 8 | Australia | 7.065 |
| 9 | Canada | 6.929 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 6.858 |
| 11 | United Kingdom | 6.635 |
| 12 | Belgium | 6.488 |
| 13 | Austria | 5.657 |
| 14 | Ireland | 5.358 |
| 15 | United States | 5.049 |
| 16 | Germany | 4.697 |
| 17 | France | 4.369 |
| 18 | Greece | 3.874 |
| 19 | Spain | 3.799 |
| 20 | Italy | 3.643 |
| 21 | Czech Republic | 3.247 |
| 22 | Japan | 3.001 |
| 23 | Portugal | 2.932 |
| 24 | South Korea | 2.926 |
| 25 | Hungary | 2.507 |
| 26 | Luxembourg | 2.477 |
| 27 | Slovakia | 2.207 |
| 28 | Poland | 1.983 |
| 29 | Turkey | 1.080 |
| 30 | Mexico | 360 |
Source: Extract from "National Science Indicators" (NSI), presented in "Forskningsbarometer 2009"