## 1 Introduction
Scholarly research on scientific output and productivity at the country level has gained significant attention in recent years, reflecting the growing recognition of science and innovation as the key drivers of national development and global competitiveness. Scholars have consistently explored the factors that influence a nation's capacity to produce and disseminate scientific knowledge, employing various methodologies and focusing on different scientific domains. This body of research seeks to understand the interrelationships of the economic, institutional, political, and social factors that shape scientific results across countries. By examining recent findings in this field, we can gain valuable insights into the determinants of national scientific productivity and the potential strategies for enhancing research performance in diverse global contexts. The relationship between economic factors and country-level scientific productivity has been the subject of extensive research. Multiple studies across various scientific disciplines have demonstrated a strong correlation between economic indicators and research output. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [3] identified economic wealth as a significant determinant of research output, while [PERSON] et al. [4] found a positive correlation between GDP and research productivity in psychiatry. Similarly, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [5] observed a moderate impact of GDP per capita on scientific productivity in clinical neurology research, and [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [6] reported a significant correlation between GDP and publication numbers in dermatology across OECD countries. [PERSON]'s [7] cross-disciplinary  
Figure 3: Interest over time in five queries related to privacy, measured through Google Search. Source: Google Trends, 13 July 2024.  
study found that the size of the economy consistently predicted scientific productivity across all the fields examined. In the realm of biomedical research, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [8] identified gross national product (GNP) per capita as a significant predictor of output. However, some research suggests a more nuanced relationship. For example, [PERSON] et al. [9] found that when controlling for societal factors, economic wealth indicators did not significantly predict scientific excellence as measured by their High-Quality Science Index. Research and development (R&D) expenditure has been consistently identified as a crucial factor in determining country-level scientific productivity. [PERSON] et al. [10] found that Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP was a significant predictor of scientific production, explaining a large portion of the variance in output among countries. This finding is supported by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [5], who observed a moderate impact of R&D spending on productivity in clinical neurology research. In the field of biomedical research, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [8] identified R&D expenditure as a significant predictor of output. Similarly, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [11] found that countries allocating more funds to education exhibited higher scientific productivity in environmental sciences and ecology. [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [12] extended this concept to elite scientific achievement, identifying research expenditure as a key predictor of Nobel awards. However, the relationship between R&D spending and scientific output may not be straightforward in all contexts. [PERSON] et al. [9] found that when controlling for societal factors, research and development expenditure did not significantly predict scientific excellence as measured by their High-Quality Science Index. While economic factors are crucial, the literature indicates that institutional factors significantly contribute to the variations in scientific productivity across countries. [PERSON] et al. [10] identified the presence of academic and research institutions as a key predictor of scientific output, complementing economic indicators.