New calculations reveal that the amount of Chinese scientific papers published has increased dramatically in the past few years. From CNN:
Fewer than one out of 20 of the world’s scientific articles came out of China in the decade up to 2003, the study shows. But the number rose to more than one out of 10 in the period from 2004 to 2008.
That pushed it up from sixth place to second, Britain’s Royal Society found.
The United States was in first place in both time periods, but its share of publications dropped from more than one in four to about one in five.
Quantity is not always quality, however.
The Royal Society measured how often each country’s papers were cited by other researchers, a “means of evaluating the quality of publications,” and found the United States first and the UK second.
China is rising, “although the rise does not mirror the rapidity of growth seen in the nation’s investment or publication output.”
