National science policy efforts can be understood, from an information science point of view, as deliberate attempts to change the relationship of research groups to the international literature over time. These relationships can be either active (publishing and citing) or passive (being cited, co-cited, etc.). This study examines the development of two highly comparable Dutch national research programs (one on "wind energy" and one on "solar energy") in terms of factors which can be associated with such relationships. The different outcomes of the two programs are analyzed in terms of the emergence of new journals in both areas. The key findings are: (1) An international core literature emerges between 1974 and 1984 in the solar but not in the wind energy literature. (2) The Dutch solar energy researchers, both in their journal articles and in their reports, link themselves to this literature. (3) The contributions of the solar researchers are in turn recognized in the international literature. (4) The wind energy researchers have less opportunity to participate with a clearly defined external professional community.