Chinese scientists’ academic influence continues to rise as US researchers’ impact declines, international survey shows

Name: US Senate passes Chips and Science Act to compete with China’s semiconductor industry
Uploaded: 2022-11-23T05:04:36.000Z
Duration: 2 min 55 s
Description: US Senate passes Chips and Science Act to compete with China’s semiconductor industry

Clarivate Analytics’ annual list ranks the impact made by scientists and institutions through the publication of highly cited papers

The US still leads as the institutional home of 38.3 per cent of nominated scientists, but that number has been in steady decline in recent years

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Chinese researchers occupy more than 40 per cent of spots on Clarivate Analytics’ rankings in the fields of mathematics, chemistry and material science. Photo: Shutterstock

Zhang Tongin Beijing

Published: 1:04pm, 23 Nov 2022Updated: 2:59pm, 23 Nov 2022

The number of high impact scientists in China has increased for a fifth consecutive year while the United States, although still leading, has experienced a persistent decline, according to the latest global citation list which evaluates scientists’ academic impact.

The list, released by international information service provider Clarivate Analytics on November 15, identifies scientists who have had significant influence through the publication of highly cited papers during the last decade. This year, about 7,000 designations were awarded to scientists in 21 areas.

The list assesses the research strength of each country and reflects changes in world scientific research patterns. The US still leads as the institutional home of 38.3 per cent of nominated scientists, but that number declines year by year. There was a 1.4-percentage point loss this year, and a five-point drop since 2018.

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US Senate passes Chips and Science Act to compete with China’s semiconductor industry

China has shown a promising trend in recent years. The percentage has risen from 7.9 in 2018 to 16.2 in 2022, more than doubling China’s share of the “highly cited researchers” population over five years.

In institution rankings, Harvard University retained the No 1 spot it has held in past years with 233 researchers nominated. The Chinese Academy of Science ranked second with 228 researchers nominated.

“The ranking is likely to change next year, considering the data trend we have witnessed,” said Liu Shihua, publishing business manager of Clarivate Analytics, on Tuesday.

The trend was visible in the academic journal industry.

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