Japan behind China for the quality of scientific work

Japan has many first-class scientists and research institutions. A study shows that other countries have the advantage when it comes to the quality of scientific work.

The Japan National Institute for Science and Technology Policy recently published a file Message Compared to international scientific work. To do this, they analyzed works over a period of 3 years that were published worldwide.

Scientific papers from the United States and China in the future

It showed that Japan still has some catching up to do, because China is at the top. In terms of business volume, China manages to supply 353,100 pieces per year. It was followed by the United States with 285,700 copies. It is the second year in a row that China has overtaken the United States.

Germany took third place with about 68,000 pieces, and only after that came Japan with 65,700 pieces.

Japan is also not in the top three when it comes to quality rankings. Quality is measured by the number of citations in other research. Ten percent of the most cited articles are examined in more detail.

China achieved 40,200 papers among the most cited this year. For the first time, they surpassed US numbers. There was only one cut on 37,100 documents under citations. Third place goes to Great Britain with 8600 pieces, followed by Germany in fourth place with 7200 pieces.

Japanese researchers should get more research hours

Japan ranks tenth and can only boast 3,700 research papers among the citations. The institute explains the development by the fact that the number of researchers as well as financial resources in China has increased, which means that they are also more visible at the international level.

For Japan, the institute recommends expanding research hours for scientists. The number of doctoral students should also be increased. In any case, Japanese researchers do not have to hide and Japanese universities can enroll especially in the field of natural sciences.