Report: U.S. Scientific Dominance Slipping

(NASA/JPL)

A study from Thomson Reuters, Global Research Report: United States, released today (12 November), found that research output from the United States has been surpassed by that of Asia and Europe. The report is based on an analysis of research papers in the most influential journals, as indexed by Thomson Reuters in the Web of Science database. That database represents a cross-section of the leading international research literature.

In 1981, according to the report, U.S. scientists fielded nearly 40 percent of research papers in the most influential journals. By 2009, that figure was down to 29 percent. During the same period, European nations increased their share of research papers from 33 percent to 36 percent, while research contributed by nations in the Asia-Pacific region increased from 13 percent to 31 percent.

China’s world share of research output has expanded markedly, growing from 0.4 percent in 1981 to 10.9 percent in 2009. China is now the second largest single-nation producer behind the U.S.

While the U.S. has maintained a strong investment in health-related research and biomedical sciences — about half of current totals — research investments in fields such as the physical sciences and engineering have lagged. In contrast, Asian countries have developed a research economy more closely linked to their strong industrial manufacturing base and are increasing investments in fields such as materials science and engineering.

During this period, the U.S. has maintained a qualitative edge, measured by “citation impact,” the relative number of citations of papers in scientific publications. Papers from U.S. institutions drew citations at a rate some 40 percent above the world average, but that gap is closing. The report says United Kingdom has now nearly matched the U.S. overall, while South Korea, China, and India dramatically increased their citation impacts in the last decade.

Related: Global R&D Spending Among Innovators Declines in 2009

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