A Decade of Artificial Intelligence Research in the European Union: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

In recent years, the body of research on artificial intelligence (AI) has grown rapidly. As the European Union strives for excellence in AI development, this study aims to establish the publication achievements in the field among its member states between 2010 and 2019. We applied clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) on a set of bibliometric data concerning research publications on AI obtained from Scopus. The results reveal that while the union’s most populous countries—the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy—were the most prolific producers of AI publications between 2010 and 2019, the highest impact was noted for publications that originated in the Nordic and Benelux countries, as well as in Austria and Ireland. Analysis confirms that the division between ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states has endured: the nations that joined the EU after 2004 recorded the lowest results in scientific output and impact in the AI field. This study can assist research agencies and researchers in developing a broad grasp of the current state of AI research.