China is increasingly playing a leading role in science
The USA has so far been considered a leader in science. However, China is catching up, as a current study reports.
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China is positioning itself to become THE new superpower. This is evident in many areas, including science, where China is increasingly playing a leading role, as a current study shows.
China has become “one of the world's leading producers of high-quality science,” write Renli Wu, Christopher Esposito, and James Evans in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which you can read in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The team analyzed nearly six million scientific publications for this purpose.
This results in “a clear shift in team leadership from Western countries to China,” the researchers write: in 2023, nearly half (45 percent) of scientific collaborations between the USA and China were led by Chinese researchers. In 2010, it was only just under a third (30 percent). In the coming years -- 2027 or 2028 -- the authors predict the two will be on par.
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The team attributes China's rise to the change in leadership positions in international collaborations. This is a new approach. Traditional methods for evaluating scientific performance often overlook “the nuances of a country's global influence.” This can be better measured by “whether leadership positions in international scientific teams are shifting from one country to another.” This implies that China is not only producing more science but also increasingly organizing it.
To analyze the large number of publications, the researchers used a machine learning model. They thus determined which scientists were leading projects based on information about authorship or participation in publications.
The cuts in science by the US government under President Donald Trump could further accelerate the change, the researchers write. They have modeled what would happen if the USA and China scientifically decoupled, either by halving or even ending cooperation. In both cases, China would benefit: Chinese scientists would then start projects with other partners, for example in Europe, and take the lead there.
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According to the study, China also plays an increasingly important role in strategic technologies. The National Science Foundation lists eleven such technologies -- including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy, and material sciences. By 2030, China will have caught up to the USA in leadership in eight of these.
(wpl)
