A study conducted in Japan found that the Chinese created a larger number of highly-cited scientific papers.
Between the years 2018 and 2020, China surpassed the United States as the global leader in the quantity and significance of scientific research. Research conducted by the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy in Japan found that China was responsible for 27.2% of the Top 1% of the most cited research worldwide. Citations are a key indicator of a study’s scientific importance. The United States ranked first with 24.9% of referenced polls published, followed by the United Kingdom with 5.5%.
In terms of total number of books printed, China also outpaces the United States. On average, there were 407,181 studies every year, compared to just 293,434 publications published in North America.
Research in the fields of materials science, chemistry, engineering, and mathematics was more productive in China, whereas research in the fields of clinical medicine, fundamental life sciences, and physics was more prolific in the United States.
“Articles that garner more citations than 99% of research are works recognized as worthy of Nobel Prize winners, the vanguard of science,” co-author Caroline Wagner told The Guardian. The United States generally views Chinese production as subpar. She went on to say that things “seem to have changed” in that regard.
On the same day that President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act, which would fund $200 billion for scientific research over the next years, a poll by Japan’s National Institute for Science and Technology Policy was released. It will take 10 years to make the nation competitive with China. However, the Chinese have voiced their disapproval of the project, claiming that it is reflective of a “mindset against the sum of knowledge worthy of the Cold War.” These statements come from the Chinese embassy in Washington.