A proposal for the performance evaluation in research of the top 25 Countries in the world

In this paper we carry out an end-to-end bibliometric performance analysis of the top 25 countries in the world using data from the latest release of the Scimago Institutions Rankings (SIR, 2014). We track six variables through the following chain: input-output-excellence-outcome-productivity, as proposed by Savithri and Prathap (2015). By means of a factor analysis we extract two orthogonal variables representing a quantity and a quality/productivity dimension respectively. The main results show that the quantity dimension is size-dependent and the quality and productivity dimension is size-independent. Factor analysis allows us to cluster the countries in six groups, according to their performance level. Then, factor analysis has been replicated using the whole set of SIR indicators in order to verify the contribute of the remaining variables (Leadership, Specialization, Internationalization, Impact) in defining the overall research performance of a country. We found that: i) the countries can be grouped in three clusters, according to size and quality performance; ii) a factor analysis with other SIR indicators leads to similar results to those obtained trough the end-to-end chain model.