Analysis of global inequality in research outcome using the Gini coefficient

PurposeThis study attempts to prove the extent of the gaps in the academic ecosystem by using the Gini coefficient.Design/methodology/approachThis study measures the gap between research document volume and citation by country and academic field using the latest ten years of research data of the Web of Science.FindingsAs a result, there is a large volume of documents in the USA and China, and the gap between global countries is g = 0.88 with high inequality. The fields of arts and humanities and social sciences are led by British and American cultures, and the gap between countries (g = 0.91, 0.89) is larger than in other fields. In the meantime, there is also inequality (g = 0.40) about the volumes of research documents between six academic fields, and the gap between the average numbers of citations per publication is the highest in social science (g = 0.80) and the lowest in life science (g = 0.71).Originality/valueThis study proves the extent of the gaps in the academic ecosystem by using the Gini coefficient with large amount research data.