http://j.people.com.cn/n3/2023/0524/c95952-20022859.html
According to the latest Nature Index Annual Tables, a ranking of world research institutions, China has become the world’s number one for the first time in “Contribution” (Share), a key indicator of the Nature Index in 2022. The People’s Daily reported. The Nature Index is produced and regularly published by Springer Nature, an internationally renowned science and technology publisher. It is a databank that compiles statistics on the number of articles published in 82 high-quality journals around the world, including Nature and Science, by relevant institutions and countries/regions. By making full use of this databank, it is possible to rank each institution based on the number and category of papers published. The current ranking is based on Nature Index data from January 1 to December 31, 2022.
Among the country/region rankings, China was ranked number one in the world in terms of contribution, a key indicator of the Nature Index, with 19,373.35. The United States was at 17,610.47; other countries in the top 10 included Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, South Korea, Canada, Switzerland, and India.
Chinese institutions excel in the contribution ranking. According to the ranking, 19 Chinese institutions made it into the world’s top 50, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences topping the list. Other Chinese institutions in the top 10 included the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University.
By area, chemistry is one of China’s strongest disciplines, with nine of the top 10 institutions in the world’s top 10 chemical science research contributions from China. Six of the top 10 institutions in the area of Earth and Environment are from China.
The Nature Index uses two main methods to calculate scientific research results: the number of papers and the level of contribution. The number of papers is added one point to the country/region or institution where all authors are located, even if there is only one or more authors of a single paper. The contribution of all authors is calculated using a fractional formula, with a total score of 1 for a single paper, where all authors are considered to have contributed equally to the paper and their scores are distributed equally. For authors affiliated with more than one institution, the contributions are distributed equally among them.
Since the Nature Index was first published in November 2014, China’s contributions have continued to rise. For example, 31 of the 50 institutions with the highest growth rates in 20-21 listed by the 2022 rankings are from China.
In addition, the quality of papers published by China has also been improving continuously in recent years. According to the “Statistical Report on Chinese Science and Technology Papers in 2022,” released last December by the China Institute of Science and Technology Information, China’s share of the world’s high-profile papers has been rising continuously, and it took the top spot for the first time in the number of high-profile papers worldwide. It maintained the second place in the world in terms of the number of H papers, and its share in the world increased by nearly 3 percentage points. The number of H papers is an important indicator to measure the impact of research, and usually the more citations a paper receives, the more it is recognized by the academic community.
According to experts, the Nature Index is a reference index that reflects the strength of basic research. The overall level of basic research in China has been steadily improving, which cannot be separated from sustained investment. China’s basic research expenditures have increased steadily over the past decade, reaching 195.1 billion yuan (1 yuan is approximately 19.6 yen) in 2010, 3.9 times the amount in 2012. The share of basic research expenditures in society’s overall R&D expenditures exceeded 6% for the fourth consecutive year.