China set to supersede US in research output

Currently China ranks second to the US after surpassing the UK, Germany and Japan in 2006.

Called Global Research Report: China, the study found that China’s output increased from around 20,000 research papers in 1998 to nearly 112,000 in 2008. The nation doubled its output since 2004 alone.

It also found that the nation’s research is concentrated in the physical sciences and technology. Materials science, chemistry and physics predominate. According to the study, rapid growth can be seen in agricultural sciences and life sciences fields such as immunology, microbiology, and molecular biology and genetics.

“If China’s research growth remains this rapid and substantial, European and North American institutions will want to be part of it,” said Jonathan Adams, director of research evaluation at Thomson Reuters. “China no longer depends on links to traditional G8 partners to help its knowledge development. When Europe and the US visit China they can only do so as equal partners.”

The study is based on data found in Web of Science, available on the Web of Knowledge citation platform. It suggests that the US stands out in terms of collaboration with China, US-based authors contributed to nearly 9% of papers from China-based institutions between 2004 and 2008.

The latest report forms part of the Global Research Report series from Thomson Reuters that illustrates the changing landscape and dynamics of global research around the world. It aims at informing policymakers about the research and collaboration potential of China and its current place in world science.