Using Gini coefficient to reflect the inequality degree of S&T publications in China and other countries

As is known to us,Lorenz curve and Gini Coefficient are classic indicators in the field of economics.They have been used to analyze income inequality for about one hundred years since they were designed.Economists or sociologists generally draw a Lorenz curve and calculate the Gini coefficient based on incomes data of a group,a city or a country.The value of Gini coefficient(from 0 to 1) reveals the degree of income inequality(from complete inequality to complete equality).There is tremendous amount of research on the relationship between the degree of income inequality on one hand,and social development and economical growth on the other hand.Later Lorenz curve and Gini Coefficient have been used,beyond economics field,in general quantitative analysis and research.This paper tries to apply these two concepts to explore the institutional distribution of publications.The inequality degree of institutional ST output will be measured with the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient,using publications as a proper proxy for S T output.To compare the data among different countries and analyze the time series of data on each country,recent 10 years of SCIE data is collected.China and other 10 countries(including USA,Russia,Japan,France,UK,Germany,Korea,India,Brazil,and Finland) are selected as samples in this research.These countries are either inno vative developed countries or fast-growing developing countries.We also discussed,after relevant comparison and analysis,whether the value of Gini coefficient here could be defined as an indicator to judge the ST development stage of a country.In economics,certain Gini coefficient is used as a warning signal that social inequality seems too sharp that social disruptions are close.In the mean way,we ask whether it is possible to determine certain key value of Gini coefficient here,and use this value to detect or describe the potential characteristics of a country's ST policy.