I was extremely pleased to read your article on agriculture as the fastest-growing research field in China (see Agriculture fastest-growing research in China).

Indeed, China has made significant contributions to the scientific community — not only in agriculture — since opening up more than 20 years ago. For example, it was the only developing country to contribute to the human genome project and the first country to approve the use of gene therapy.

China's rapid progress can be explained by improved access for local institutes and organisations to resources including state funding, private investment, skilled graduates and internationally trained experts.

The number of citations, as well as publications, can measure the scientific impact of this growth. SCImago Country & Journal Rank (SJR), a website run by the University of Granada, Spain, publishes a range of scientific indicators on journals found in Elsevier's Scopus database.

According to SJR, the number of articles published by researchers in China has dramatically increased over the past ten years.

Unfortunately, this has not resulted in a similar rise in citations. In fact, SJR finds China seriously behind the leading publishing countries — Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — particularly in non-self citations.

This finding is supported by studies of Chinese publications in high impact journals such as Science and Nature. A research note, published by the Science and Technology Observatory at the University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada, revealed that just 49 affiliations associated with Nature publications in 2004 are in China — compared to 1240 in the United States and 283 in the United Kingdom.

Clearly, even though research in China is growing rapidly, the country has yet to achieve a reputable status.

The government is trying to strengthen scientific and technological research in the country. Not only by providing more funds to basic research, but also by improving copyright protection through the National Intellectual Property Strategy.

A recent speech by China's Premier Wen Jiabao, entitled 'To Play Technology's leading role in China's Sustainable Development' emphasised the importance of intellectual property regulations for building innovation.

Companies too are trying to improve their status. For example, many are cooperating with international regulatory agents to standardise their practices in a global market. The government must support such efforts through its own regulatory bodies, by providing guidelines and rigorous assessments.

It is imperative for China to pave the way for a diverse and global scientific community.