China, Turkey and Iran emerge as scientific giants (Wired UK)
A report from the UK's Royal Society has found that a diverse range of countries, including Brazil, India and Iran, are rivalling the traditional science superpowers of the United States, Western Europe and Japan.
The report, titled Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century, looked at data over a 15 year period, from 1993 to 2008, to find out which countries were spending most on science and which nations were producing the most scientific papers.
During that timeframe, China has rocketed from sixth place to second, with its share of publication authorship rising from 4.4 percent to 10.2 percent. It booted Japan far down the list, and found a snug place behind the United States as the number two producer of science in the world.
The UK has remained steady in third place, but our share of the publication pie has slipped from 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent. Great Britain's research papers are also the second-most cited, behind the US but ahead of Germany. Citations are often used as a means of evaluating the quality of a publication.
However despite economic turbulence, George Osborne promised an extra £100 million of capital investment in science during 2011's budget, announced recently.
The report also found that countries which rank lower in the world for their scientific research have thrived in the 21st century. Turkey, for example, increased its scientific research and development spend nearly sixfold and produced four times as many papers in 2008 as it did in 1996.
Iran is the fastest growing country for science. In 1996, the Middle-Eastern country produced just 736 scientific papers -- in 2008, it published 13,238. Tunisia, Singapore and Qatar have all significantly boosted their scientific spend, and published more papers.
"The scientific world is changing and new players are fast appearing," said Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, chair of the advisory group for this study. "The increase in scientific research and collaboration, which can help us to find solutions to the global challenges we now face, is very welcome."
A report from the UK's Royal Society has found that a diverse range of countries, including Brazil, India and Iran, are rivalling the traditional science superpowers of the United States, Western Europe and Japan.
The report, titled Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century, looked at data over a 15 year period, from 1993 to 2008, to find out which countries were spending most on science and which nations were producing the most scientific papers.
During that timeframe, China has rocketed from sixth place to second, with its share of publication authorship rising from 4.4 percent to 10.2 percent. It booted Japan far down the list, and found a snug place behind the United States as the number two producer of science in the world.
The UK has remained steady in third place, but our share of the publication pie has slipped from 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent. Great Britain's research papers are also the second-most cited, behind the US but ahead of Germany. Citations are often used as a means of evaluating the quality of a publication.
However despite economic turbulence, George Osborne promised an extra £100 million of capital investment in science during 2011's budget, announced recently.
The report also found that countries which rank lower in the world for their scientific research have thrived in the 21st century. Turkey, for example, increased its scientific research and development spend nearly sixfold and produced four times as many papers in 2008 as it did in 1996.
Iran is the fastest growing country for science. In 1996, the Middle-Eastern country produced just 736 scientific papers -- in 2008, it published 13,238. Tunisia, Singapore and Qatar have all significantly boosted their scientific spend, and published more papers.
"The scientific world is changing and new players are fast appearing," said Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, chair of the advisory group for this study. "The increase in scientific research and collaboration, which can help us to find solutions to the global challenges we now face, is very welcome."
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