  National culture is among those societal factors which could influence
research and innovation activities. In this study, we investigated the
associations of two national culture models with citation impact of nations
(measured by the proportion of papers belonging to the 10% and 1% most cited
papers in the corresponding fields, PPtop 10% and PPtop 1%). Bivariate
statistical analyses showed that of six Hofstede's national culture dimensions
(HNCD), uncertainty avoidance and power distance had a statistically
significant negative associa-tion, while individualism and indulgence had a
statistically significant positive associationwith both citation impact
indicators. The study also revealed that of two Inglehart-Welzel cultural
values (IWCV), the value survival versus self-expression is statistically
significantly related to citation impact indicators. We additionally calculated
multiple regression analyses controlling for the possible effects of
confounding factors including national self-citations, international
co-authorships, invest-ments in research and development, international migrant
stock, number of researchers ofeach nation, language, and productivity. The
results revealed that the statistically significant associations of HNCD with
citation impact indicators disappeared. But the statistically significant
relationship between survivals versus self-expression values and citation
impact indicators remained stable even after controlling for the confounding
variables. Thus, the freedom of expression and trust in society might
contribute to better scholarly communication systems, higher level of
international collaborations, and further quality research.
