Scientific relations between Spain and central-Eastern European countries for the period 1982–1992

Abstract

This paper analyzes the scientific relationships between Spain and the Eastern European countries (EEc), including the former USSR, from 1982 to 1992. The study considers the number of co-authored papers as well as the number of stays which reflect to the exchange of scientists among them. The total number of co-authored papers of Spanish scientists with their colleagues of those countries is 664 as recorded in theScience Citation Index. During the last three years, a significative increase in the number of co-signed papers has been observed. From the sample considered, the percentage of bilateral and multilateral co-authored papers is 43.8 and 56.2 respectively. In absolute figures, USSR and Poland are the countries with highest number of collaborative papers with Spain. However, in relation to their scientific output, Poland and Hungary show a higher percentage of co-authored papers than the rest of EEc. On the other hand, previous data, provided by the Spanish Secretary of State for Research and Universities (SEUI), related to the flow of scientists on sabbatical year to and from Spain,¹ showed that from 1984 to 1994, a total of 213 researches come from the EEc to Spain, while the number of Spanish scientists going to those countries was extremely scarce.