[Paper Review] Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country'S H-Index

Maryam Farhadi, Hadi Salehi+5 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Nov 13, 2013

Innovation Diffusion and Forecasting20 references12 citations

TL;DR

This study investigates how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development influences a country's scientific output, measured by the H-index, using panel data from 14 Middle Eastern countries (1995–2009). It finds that ICT use and ICT skills significantly boost a nation's H-index, while ICT access shows no clear effect, highlighting the importance of utilization and digital literacy over mere infrastructure availability.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country's scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country's H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country's H-index is not clear.

Motivation & Objective

• To analyze the impact of ICT development on national scientific output as measured by the H-index.
• To examine the distinct contributions of ICT use, ICT access, and ICT skill sub-indices on H-index performance.
• To assess the role of ICT in enhancing research productivity and scientific ranking across Middle Eastern countries.
• To provide empirical evidence on the relationship between ICT development and national research performance.

Proposed method

• The study uses panel data from 14 Middle Eastern countries spanning 1995 to 2009.
• It applies a multivariate regression model to analyze the relationship between ICT sub-indices and H-index.
• ICT development is decomposed into three sub-indices: ICT Use, ICT Access, and ICT Skill.
• H-index values are used as a proxy for national scientific output and research performance.
• Data on ICT sub-indices are collected from international databases such as the World Bank and ITU.
• The analysis controls for time and country-specific effects to isolate the impact of ICT components.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 To what extent does ICT development contribute to a country’s H-index?
• RQ2 How do the sub-indices of ICT use, access, and skill individually affect national H-index?
• RQ3 Which ICT sub-index has the most significant impact on scientific output as measured by H-index?
• RQ4 Does the availability of ICT infrastructure (access) significantly improve a country’s H-index?
• RQ5 Is the utilization of ICT and digital skills more critical than infrastructure for enhancing national research performance?

Key findings

• ICT development as a whole has a positive and significant effect on a country’s H-index.
• ICT Use shows a positive and statistically significant contribution to higher H-index values.
• ICT Skill also contributes positively and significantly to national scientific output.
• The effect of ICT Access on H-index is not statistically significant, indicating limited impact of infrastructure availability alone.
• The combined effect of ICT Use and ICT Skill is stronger than that of ICT Access, emphasizing the importance of application and expertise.
• The findings suggest that policy focus should shift from expanding ICT access to improving usage and skill development to enhance research productivity.