Between centers and peripheries

This article analyzes the production and diffusion of the scientific products of sixty-one researchers in soil sciences belonging to ORSTOM. In a period corresponding to two scientific generations we have observed important changes in writing and publishing habits. Non-published reports have lost importance while article production has grown. Also there is a noteworthy growth of the number of presentations at meetings, most of them international scientific congresses. The article shows the result of a factor analysis of their production that allows us to identify seven different types of behavior. We have stressed a series of elements explaining these different types. The possible predominance of a nationally oriented production behavior can be mainly explained by easy access to publication, sufficient appropriateness to the kind of data studied, and correct recognition by scientific peers. Finally we suggest that this typology can be used for analytical purposes in order to study the growth and publication patterns of Third World science.