Scientometric mapping of vacuum research in nuclear science & technology: a global perspective

This paper attempts to analyse the growth and development of Vacuum research in Nuclear Science and Technology, as reflected in publication output covered by International Nuclear Information System (INIS) database during 2002-2006. A total of 12027 papers were published in the field of vacuum science. United States topped the list with 1936 (16.10%) publications followed by Japan with 1770 (14.70%) publications, The highest number of publications (3276) were published in 2004. The average number of publications published per year were 2405.4. The highest number of publications were in 'Physics of Elementary Particles and Fields' with 2644 (21.98%) publications. The authorship and collaboration trend is towards multi-authored papers. The highly productive institutions were: Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (Japan) with 366 publications, University of Tokyo (Japan) with 274 publications, Hiroshima University (Japan) with 245 publications, Osaka University Japan (Japan) with 224 publications and Chinese Academy of Science (P-R-China) with 223 publications. The most preferred journals for publication were: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology-A with 857 papers, Physical Review -D with 765 papers, Journal of High Energy Physics with 500 papers, Thin Solid Films with 311 papers, Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena with 309 papers, and AIP Conference Proceedings with 308 papers.