China set for global lead in scientific research

[SinoIndusFriendship]

" An obvious word of warning needs to be made here: quantity is not the same as quality. Measuring the volume of China's scientific output is clearly both valuable and surprising but it doesn't tell us whether that research was any good. For that we turn to a useful proxy: China's scientific collaboration with other countries better known for the high quality of their science. The results here, too, are eye-opening.

China is not doing science behind closed doors; its international collaborations are growing. Nearly 9 per cent of papers originating from Chinese institutions have a US-based co-author. Japanese and British co-authorship is also growing. Collaboration with South Korea and Singapore almost trebled between 2004 and 2008 and collaboration with Australia expanded too - signs, perhaps, of an emerging Asia-Pacific regional network. "

Source: Get ready for China's domination of science - opinion - 06 January 2010 - New Scientist

What can I say?! I come from a strong scientific and engineering background, and work with some of the best. To be honest, very few people in this world are the best-of-the-best.

It is important to always look outside to learn from others. I noticed of late there has been a lot of Chinese-bashing, trying to insinuate that Asians aren't as "capable" nor "intelligent". But this is not the general belief among the majority, as most people think otherwise (i.e. believe Asians are top-notch). So it is readily apparent that this propaganda is originating from a 'central source'...... (hint hint).

Knowing this, we don't take offence. Instead, work harder and study harder, each and every single day! There is much to learn and discover, the human race has progress much but many things we still don't understand or misunderstand. A human life is limited, and so we must accept our capabilities to be limited. There are some things we will never know for certain, let us be accept it.

 

[fallstuff]

Here is from The Daily Telegraph, a Conservative British Newspaper.


China to lead world scientific research by 2020
China will be producing more scientific research than any other country within a decade, according to an analysis of the nation’s “awe-inspiring” academic growth.


By Matthew Moore
Published: 11:22PM GMT 25 Jan 2010


Vast state investment in schools, universities and research programmes has driven the rapid growth, with academic discoveries rapidly tapped for commercial potential. Chinese scientists are particularly strong on chemistry and materials engineering, both considered central to the country’s industrial development and economic future.

The number of peer-reviewed papers published by Chinese researchers rose 64-fold over the past 30 years.

China is now second only to the US in terms of academic papers published, and will take first place by 2020 if current trends continue.

It comes after last week’s announcement that China is poised to replace Japan as the world’s second largest economy, behind the US.

The boom in China’s scientific research was disclosed in an analysis of papers published in 10,500 academic journals across the world.

The figures, compiled by the publisher Thomson Reuters for the Financial Times , showed that Chinese scientists had increased their output at a far faster rate than counterparts in rival “emerging” nations such as India, Russia and Brazil. Although India has long been tipped as the most likely threat to US academic supremacy, the study found it now lags well behind China.

India has almost been caught by Brazil in terms of the number of papers published, with researchers in the South American country leading the way in agriculture and biology. Russia has seen a relative decline in scientific research since 1981.

“China is out on its own, far ahead of the pack,” said James Wilsdon, of the Royal Society in London. Jonathan Adams, a research evaluation director at Thomson Reuters, called China’s growth “awe-inspiring” although he acknowledged that the value of the findings by its scientists were still “rather mixed”.




Link:
China to lead world scientific research by 2020 - Telegraph

 

[fallstuff]

Statistics and resources are on China's side. What are the odds of number of brilliant minds out of Billion+ population ? I would say higher than any other country. The shear volume of population ensures that. India has the population, but not the vast resources China has available. As the economy further improves there will be more researching facilities, brain drain will also slow down. This also applies o India.

 

[no_name]

Interesting, alot of achievements of China seems to converge on the 2020 deadline.