China passes U.S. to top output of influential science papers

[xizhimen]

China passes U.S. to top output of influential science papers
Academic strength could help further increase nation's industrial dominance

China is the leading source of natural science papers in five of the eight disciplines surveyed by Japan's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy.

Nikkei staff writersAugust 10, 2021 18:49 JST

TOKYO: China has become No 1 in the output of highly cited natural science papers, a development that could make the country even stronger in terms of industrial competitiveness.

Japan’s National Institute of Science and Technology Policy counted the number of academic papers that are ranked among the top 10% in terms of citations and found that China has overtaken the US and become No 1.

The number of highly cited papers is an important indicator of a country’s research strength.


The Japanese government affiliate, using data from the British research company Clarivate, counted the number of research publications among major economies and calculated a three-year average for each country.

Within the top 10% of papers cited in natural science fields, China averaged 40,219 between 2017 and 2019, up 5.1 times from 10 years earlier, while the US had 37,124, up 3%.

China accounted for 24.8% of the total, compared with 22.9% for the US and 5.4% for third-placed UK.

Among papers in the top 10% of citations, China had the largest share in five fields, including 48.4% in materials science, 39.1% in chemistry and 37.3% in engineering.

Generally, China has shown strength in academic fields that are close to business and industry.

The US excelled in biological fields, with a share of 34.5% in clinical medicine and 26.9% in life sciences.

In terms of the overall number of research papers, China led the US for two straight years.

The US still leads China in the number of “top papers”, or those in the top 1% of citations, with a share of 27.2%, versus China’s 25%.

But China is catching up in this category as well.

China passes US to top output of influential science papers

Academic strength could help further increase nation's industrial dominance

asia.nikkei.com

 

[xizhimen]

Japan drops to 10th for scientific papers; China dethrones U.S.
By RINTARO SAKURAI/ Staff Writer

China has overtaken the United States for the first time in the number of noteworthy scientific papers it produced, while Japan has dropped to 10th place after India.

A science ministry report released on Aug. 10, titled “Japanese Science and Technology Indicators 2021,” cited less time devoted to research and fewer Ph. D. students as reasons behind Japan’s poor showing.

The National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, affiliated with the ministry, calculated the rankings based on the top 10 percent of the most cited scientific papers in each research field and other factors.

While Japan accounted for an average of 3,787 of the those papers between 2017 and 2019, the figure is around 10 percent of that for China and the lowest among Group of Seven industrialized countries.

A country's contribution to a thesis is calculated on the basis of which institution the article’s co-authors belong to.

Japan’s ranking has been on continuous decline since the mid-2000s, when the country stayed in fourth place. Japan performed especially poorly in the fields of environment and geoscience, engineering, and computer science and mathematics.

Japan has 680,000 scientists and spends 18 trillion yen ($163.03 billion) on research and development in the public and private sectors combined, ranking third only after the United States and China.

Japanese researchers also produced the fourth highest number of scientific papers a year.

China, which used to rank 10th or lower in the top 10 percent papers list, started improving its performance in the late 1990s and came second only to the United States in the late 2000s.

China has 2.11 million scientists and spends 55 trillion yen on research and development, both triple the levels of Japan, giving its academic community the momentum to stay ahead of the game.

Chinese researchers also published the highest number of scientific papers for two consecutive years.

Noteworthy theses are increasingly released as a result of joint studies with researchers from other countries.

The ratio of such articles is 35 percent for Japan, compared with more than 60 percent for Britain, France and Germany.

China tops among research partners for U.S. scientists in international joint studies. Japan ranks eighth, down two places from 10 years earlier.

The number of Japanese researchers visiting the United States for their study is only around 40 percent of that about 10 years earlier.

Japan drops to 10th for scientific papers; China dethrones U.S. | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

 

[xizhimen]

Xi calls for greater efforts to build China's strength in science, technology​

2021-10-27 08:37:38XinhuaEditor : Li Yan

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Tuesday called on the country's scientific and technological workers to continue striving to build China's strength in science and technology.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when visiting an exhibition of China's achievements in scientific and technological innovation during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) in Beijing.

Xi calls for greater efforts to build China's strength in science, technology

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