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Unveiling the distinctive traits of a nation's research performance: the case of Italy and Norway

In this study we are analysing the research performance of Italian and Norwegian professors using constituent components of the Fractional Scientific Strength (FSS) indicator. The main focus is on differences across fields in publication output and citation impact. The overall performance (FSS) of the two countries, which differ considerably in research size and profile, is remarkedly similar. However, an in-depth analysis shows that there are large underlying performance differences. An average Italian professor publishes more papers than a Norwegian, while the citation impact of the research output is higher for the Norwegians. In addition, at field level the pattern varies along both dimensions, and we analyse in which fields each country have their relative strengths. Overall, this study contributes to further insights on how the research performance of different countries may be analysed and compared, to inform research policy.