摘要

Based on papers indexed in the Web of Science, we investigated publication activities of China, Japan, USA and EU with special focus on journals publishing most papers of the four economies. Both overall situation and activities in physics have been analyzed. The results show that world science is still led by the West represented by USA and EU. USA and EU share the most in selecting journals for publishing papers, capability of publishing in high-JIF values. China and Japan publish heavily in local MISC journals, but Japan performs slightly better in publishing in MISC journals with relatively higher-JIF values. Japan is closer to the West and share least with China in selecting journals to publish papers. All the four economies are most productive in physics, and with overlaps in other fields. Similar results are found in publication activities in physics.