China ’s meteoric rise to scientific prominence is continuing unabated . For the first time ever , China is nowpublishing more scientific articlesthan the United States , firmly staking its claim to being the world leader in research and development ( R&D ) .
This overshadowing has been a long time coming . The statistic formed part of the US National Science Foundation ’s ( NSF ) biennialScience & Engineering Indicators reportand , depending on how you appear at it , designate that China is on the verge of becoming – or already has become – the planet ’s scientific great power .
Previous report from the NSF have been track China ’s rise in science and technology for a while now . In 2010 the agency said that they ascertain “ no end in mess ” for their scientific investments , while in 2012 the report talked about the world of an Asian science zone , with China sitting firmly at the center .
The latest news , therefore , might not come as that much of a surprisal to many , but China ’s speedy emanation over the last two decades has been something to lay eyes on . The amount of money that China enthrone in R&D has increase by18 percent annually , while the number of people graduating with a scientific discipline bachelor ’s degree has risen from 359,000 to 1.65 million between 2000 and 2014 , compare to 483,000 to 742,000 in the US .
The overall content of the recent report is a pretty simple one : “ The US global share of [ skill and engineering ] activities is declining as other nation – especially China – cover to rise,”NSF officials saidon the release of the theme .
But it is important to note that this does not mean that the US has lose its grandness or influence in scientific inquiry . While China might now be bring forth more research overall , the US still wracks up more citations , behind only Sweden and Switzerland , and above the EU , which is follow by China . This could reflect that the body of work being carried out in the US need more rudimentary questions .
When it come to how much money is invested yearly in enquiry and development , the United States is still on top . In 2015 , for example , the US invested $ 500 billion , accounting for 26 percent of the globose total , compared to China ’s $ 400 billion . But while that figure has flatlined in the US over late years , in China it has been turn , and will belike surpass the US in the not too remote futurity .
What this mean depends really on who you are need . The pursuit of knowledge in general welfare all of us , but many in the US might be a little worried about the hike of China . The war machine , for object lesson , is monish that the nation ’s development of weapons and satellites could become a threat , while economist are implicated that one of the major pillar of the US ’ economic system is being apace erode .
