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China beats US in most-cited science papers, moving to top of new rankings: report
- China accounts for 27.2 per cent of the world’s most-cited papers, while the US contributes 24.9 per cent, according to report
- The idea that Chinese research is lacking in quality, though abundant in quantity, is ‘short-sighted’, says policy expert
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China has surpassed the United States for the first time to lead the world in the number of most-cited papers, a key indicator of scientific influence, according to a new report.
Between 2018 and 2020, China contributed 27.2 per cent of the world’s most-cited papers – those ranking in the top 1 per cent in terms of citations – while the US accounted for 24.9 per cent, said the “Japanese Science and Technology Indicators” report released on August 9.
Some have pointed to the report as evidence of the rapid rise in the quality – in addition to quantity – of Chinese research.
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The notion that Chinese researchers “are putting out a lot of stuff, but it’s not good quality … is just short-sighted”, science policy expert Caroline Wagner from the Ohio State University told Science magazine on August 17.
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According to Science, China overtook the US in 2016 to become the global leader in the number of published papers.
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However, a decade ago, it only accounted for 6.4 per cent of the world’s most-cited papers, lagging far behind the United States’ 41.2 per cent, said the report, which is compiled annually by the Tokyo-based National Institute of Science and Technology Policy.
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