An Introduction to the Barycentre Method with an Application to China's Mean Centre of Publication

We explain the barycentre method and show how to apply it in a practical situation. A country's mean centre of publication, or publication barycentre, is defined and its evolution is studied in the case of China's centre of publication. Data for this application are taken from the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD). It is shown that China's publication barycentre slowly moves to the south and that it approaches the population barycentre. Tentative explanations for this southward movement, based on economic and educational considerations, are given. It is observed that inequality in publication between administrative units (regions) decreases slowly.