Science Climbs International RankingsThe Chinese mainland achieved a ranking of eighth in the world, in the production of scientific theses, according to a study by the top three international theses indexes.The mainland produced 46,188 scientific theses last year, up 32 per cent on 1998's numbers, bringing China's ranking from ninth in 1998 to eighth, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced at a press conference yesterday in Beijing. The seven largest scientific theses producers in the world are the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada and Italy. The top three world indexes are the US Science Citation Index (SCI), the Engineering Index (EI) and the Index on Scientific and Technological Proceedings (ISTP). A total of 24,476 Chinese scientific theses were picked up by SCI last year, up 23.4 per cent from 1998. Another 14,807 were cited by EI, up 49.7 per cent on 1998. Last year, Chinese scientists published a total of 6,905 theses at international conferences, up 31 per cent on 1998, according to ISTP statistics. The ministry's deputy secretary-general Duan Ruichun said that the production of scientific theses reflects a nation's research achievements. And China's rising rank indicates that its natural science theoretical research is making remarkable progress, said Duan. He attributed the progress to increased government investment in science and technology development. Last year, the mainland invested nearly 67.9 billion yuan (US$8.1 billion) in research and development, an increase of 17.7 per cent on 1998. Last year's investment accounted for 0.83 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, breaking the country's previous record, according to Duan. China first took part in the index rankings in 1987. The results have now become an important reference in the evaluation of personnel and research findings, said Du Zhanyuan, an official from the ministry's Department for Development and Planning. Of the theses produced last year the majority were published in Beijing and Shanghai, and Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Hubei and Liaoning provinces, according to Zhang Zhong, deputy-director of the Institute of Science and Technology Information of China. The theses dealt with chemistry, physics, electronics and communications, materials, dynamics and mathematics, said Zhang. Source: China Daily |
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