China joins US as top influencer in science
Heavy spending and hunt for talent rapidly raising nation's profile
June 13, 2017 9:00 am JST
TOKYO -- China now ranks as the most influential country in four of
eight core scientific fields, tying with the U.S., according to the
Japan Science and Technology Agency.
The agency took the top 10% of the most referenced studies in each
field, and determined the number of authors who were affiliated with the
U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, China or Japan. China ranked first in
computer science, mathematics, materials science and engineering. The
U.S., on the other hand, led the way in physics, environmental and earth
sciences, basic life science and clinical medicine.
Despite winning Nobel Prizes for three straight years, Japan came in at fifth or sixth place in many fields.
China's progress was especially pronounced in computer science. While
the country accounted for only 3% of the most referenced studies in
2000, the figure had surged to 21% by 2015. It has also had the fastest
supercomputer in the world since 2013, and the two fastest in 2016.
China is also rapidly catching up in physics, where the U.S. has long
dominated. It is spending more than $6 billion to build the world's
largest particle accelerator, which could put it at the forefront of
particle physics.
These advances were made on heavy spending by Beijing and an
extensive campaign to attract talent. China's public and private
spending on research was double Japan's in 2014, and is fast approaching
the American tally of $460 billion. It is making efforts to bring home
Chinese researchers who trained abroad, and to connect with overseas
talent through study abroad programs and temporary placements.
"I was not expecting China to overtake the U.S. in many fields," said
Yuko Ito at the Japan Science and Technology Agency. With U.S.
President Donald Trump planning a major spending cut for the sciences,
China is expected to become an even larger player.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Science/China-joins-US-as-top-influencer-in-science
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