“ China’s share of the world’s published scientific articles soared from 0.2% in 1980, to 7.4% in 2006, when it overtook Japan for the first time (see graph). Productivity in this respect is not yet matched by quality. The citation impact score for Chinese research — a measure defined so that the average for the world is 1.0 — remained stagnant at about 0.35 for decades. In the decade from 1995, it doubled to 0.73, and in materials science and nanotechnology, two of China’s specializations, its score is approaching 1.0.
China: The great contender