China is publishing more scientific research papers annually than United States: Report

A report published by Japan’s science and technology ministry shows thatChina has overtaken the United States as the world leader in both scientific research output and “high impact” studies.

According to data compiled by the analytics firm Clarivate between 2018 and 2020, China now publishes the highest number of scientific research papers yearly.

The US and Germany rank second and third on the list as per Japan’s National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTP).

The report stated that 27.2 per cent of the world’s top 1 per cent of most frequently cited papers comprise Chinese research.

Pulling ahead of the United States' 293,434 journal articles, China published a yearly average of 407,181 scientific papers.

While US researchers were more prolific in research into clinical medicine, China accounted for a high proportion of research into materials science and mathematics.

In order to make US scientific research more competitive with China, US president Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act that would authorise $200bn in research funding over 10 years.

After passing the European Union in the “high impact” finding in 2015, China overtook the US in 2019 in the top 1 per cent measure.

According to the study's co-author Dr Caroline Wagner, “The US has tended to rank China’s work as lower quality. This appears to have changed.”

The report found that even though the US is spending more on research and development in the corporate and university sectors, it is still lagging behind China.

(With inputs from agencies)

Watch WION's live TV here: