Patterns of the foreign contributions in some domestic vs. international journals on Earth Sciences

Patterns of the foreign contributions published in six scientific journals on Earth Sciences published in different countries, have been studied as an approach for testing their level of internationalisation. Two of the multiple dimensions that determine the internationalisation of scientific journals are considered: the geographical distribution pattern of authors and the co-authorship linkages among them. The potential of the said journals to attract manuscripts by foreign authors and to promote international collaboration, through the publishing of co-authored papers involving or not scientists by its own country of publication, is investigated. Some other indicators on the degree of internationalisation of scientific journals, such as, language of publication, publishing institution, and national structure of editorial boards, are also considered. Finally, the geographic areas, the journal papers deal with, can be introduced as a new aspect of internationalisation. Three categories of journals clearly differentiated are identified and characterised: domestic, regional and international journals. The effect on publication and collaboration patterns, of geopolitical, cultural, economic and linguistic bonds among countries is discussed. The important role of domestic European journals on Earth Sciences is noted, as they are not only the main information source on the research carried out by local scientists whose study is focused on the geologic features of their country, but also, as an excellent vehicle of international diffusion for works by foreign scientists from developing countries. On the other hand, international collaborative articles in domestic journals constitute an indicator of the interest of the international community on the scientific studies in the publishing country.