How China can boost its scientific impact

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>How China can boost its scientific impact</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>Despite a recent improvement, the number of high-quality research papers published by scientists from mainland China has remained low.</P><br />
<P>In this article, Ray Wu of Cornell University, United States, argues that this is because there are few productive scientists in China, and the level of financial support for basic research is inadequate.</P><br />
<P>The short-term nature of research funding means that Chinese scientists tend to work on projects that are likely to produce quick results. In most cases, such studies lack novelty and creativity. China should move forward by establishing a truly fair and transparent system for reviewing research proposals, and should substantially increase its budget for basic research, Wu says.</P><br />
<P><a  href="http://www.nature.com/login/scidev_login.taf?ref=/nature/journal/v428/n6979/full/428206a_fs.html" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full article in <EM>Nature</EM></A><EM> </EM></P><br />
<P>Reference: <em>Nature</em> 428, 206 (2004)</P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/how-china-can-boost-its-scientific-impact/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/how-china-can-boost-its-scientific-impact/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Despite a recent improvement, the number of high-quality research papers published by scientists from mainland China has remained low.

In this article, Ray Wu of Cornell University, United States, argues that this is because there are few productive scientists in China, and the level of financial support for basic research is inadequate.

The short-term nature of research funding means that Chinese scientists tend to work on projects that are likely to produce quick results. In most cases, such studies lack novelty and creativity. China should move forward by establishing a truly fair and transparent system for reviewing research proposals, and should substantially increase its budget for basic research, Wu says.

Link to full article in Nature

Reference: Nature 428, 206 (2004)