Measures of scientific growth

Abstract Numbers of publications and citation ratings have recently been used as measures of scientific growth. The present paper discusses a number of presumed weaknesses of these measures. First, a distinction is made among scientific activity, scientific productivity, and scientific progress. Then it is suggested that the above measures might depend on the particular field of science, on the speed whereby research front information becomes archival, on the phenomena of wrong papers and of ‘also ran’ papers, on the geographical differences in communication patterns, on whether we want to measure activity, productivity, or progress, and on the temporal variations in scientific communication patterns. Though some examples are given, the quantitative substantiation of the proposed effects must await further research.