China beats US in top global scientific ‘hot papers’ ranking: report

For the first time, China has surpassed the US with the number of papers published and cited in the world’s most influential journals, a new report has found.

China also ranked first on the international papers citation chart in six major disciplines – agricultural sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, materials science and mathematics. The top spot in mathematics was a new achievement compared with the previous year.

According to the Statistical Data of Chinese S&T Papers released on Wednesday by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), Chinese researchers published 1,929 “hot papers” – papers that receive significant numbers of citations soon after publication, usually in a rapidly evolving field such as molecular biology and materials science – accounting for 46 per cent of the global total by July.

Meanwhile, US researchers produced 1,592 hot papers, taking second place. The US was followed by Britain, Germany and Australia, according to the data from ISTIC, which has been tracking papers published by Chinese researchers in domestic and overseas journals since 1987.

While most papers reach their citation peak two to four years after publication, some become hot and receive recognition very quickly, seeing them cited rapidly and extensively because of their importance to a field of high current interest.