Distribution of world science

Abstract Policymakers in science are often handicapped by a lack of uniform non-economic data on their field. In this continuation of a previous paper, the distribution of the number of scientists throughout the world is considered. To take some account of distances and proximity effects, a ‘potential’ method is used with the data. The results of the calculations show very large concentrations of scientists in North America and Europe. To take account of population concentrations, the scientific potentials were divided by the population potentials. The region of highest ratio in Western Europe is reduced by this method. Implications of the results are briefly discussed.