China has surpassed the United States of America to become the biggest contributor to research articles published in top science journals, according to a database of author affiliations.
China also took the top spot from the US in contributions to Earth and environmental sciences for the first time in 2022, though it still trailed in life sciences, according to preliminary data released by Nature in a news article.
The data is from the Nature Index, which tracks contributions to papers published in 82 journals covering different disciplines of the natural sciences – namely chemistry, Earth and environmental sciences, life sciences and physical sciences.
It includes world-leading peer-reviewed journals such as Cell, Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
According to the Nature news article, China’s contributions have been continually increasing since the index was launched in 2014. It also emerged as the top-ranking country for physical sciences and chemistry in 2021.
The index takes into account the percentage of authors from a nation on each published paper. An article authored by a group of researchers who are all China-based would yield a “share” of 1 for China. In 2022, China had a share of nearly 19,400, while the US had 17,610.
Beijing wants China to become a global power in science and technology. In February, President Xi Jinping said robust basic research would be the driving force to achieve this, and that diverse funding sources, international collaboration and training were crucial for tech independence.
