In this paper we want to discuss the question of methodological nationalism in relation to the growing number of comparative studies of research performance that has arisen within the last 10-15 years. Policymakers typically want to know how an isolated entity – often a nation state – is doing in relation to other similar entities. This is understandable but as we shall argue in this paper, science is especially difficult to isolate to a single nation state. Science is and has in a way always been a transnational phenomenon. Using scientometric data we want to look into this question and examine the transnational character of today’s science. These scientometrics analyses will be the basis of a general discussion on the interconnectedness of scientist and scientific ideas and the problems in making comparisons between the performance of different nation states – and the subsequent risk of methodological nationalism.
