China has overtaken the US when it comes to the highest-impact research
By 
Rebecca Trager2022-03-21T14:30:00
1.67% of papers by Chinese researchers were among the top 1% of the most highly cited articles in 2019, versus 1.62% of those with US authors
China has surpassed the US to become the world leader in producing the highest-impact scientific research, according to new analysis based on the Web of Science (WoS) database and published in the journal Scientometrics. Experts argue, however, that China’s greater publication output and citations doesn’t necessarily mean that it is generating more high-quality science than the US and other nations.
The new study, carried out by a three-person research team from the US, Europe and China, shows that Chinese research ranked as high as or higher than US work in the top 1% of scientific studies in 2019, after passing the EU by this measure in 2015.