China, U.S. leaders in research fronts

The United States and China occupy the top positions in 88 percent of the research fronts across 11 major scientific fields, with other countries around the world comprising the remaining 12 percent, according to a report released recently.

According to the 2024 Research Fronts: Active Fields, Leading Countries/Regions report — part of the 2024 Research Front report released on Wednesday — the U.S. leads in more than half of the 110 research fronts and ranks first in seven scientific fields: ecology and environmental sciences; geosciences; clinical medicine; biological sciences; astronomy and astrophysics; mathematics; and economics, psychology and other social sciences.

China ranks second overall, leading in more than 30 percent of the research fronts. Compared to the U.S., China has a distinct advantage in the field of chemistry and materials science.

China also ranks first in agricultural sciences, botany and zoology, physics and information science.

The reports have been published by the Institutes of Science and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences — in cooperation with the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Clarivate Analytics — since 2014.

The 2024 Research Front report evaluates research fronts by continuously tracking global scientific and academic papers and analyzing their citation patterns.

"When a cluster of highly cited papers reaches a certain level of activity and coherence in being cited together, it forms a research front, which objectively reflects the development trends in various disciplines," said Yang Fan, deputy director of the science and development institutes.

The report analyzes major scientific breakthroughs at the forefront of global science that could potentially impact the world's development landscape in the future. It can be used as a strategic reference for national scientific and technological innovation, helping policymakers stay informed about research progress and support studies in major frontier fields and significant scientific issues, she said.

Wu Zhaohui, vice-president of the CAS, said that the current international situation is complex, with technological revolutions and major power rivalries being intertwined.

"The Chinese Academy of Sciences has always adhered to basic research as the foundation of the institution. We have conducted organized and institutionalized basic research, and in recent years, we have achieved a significant number of original results, leading several disciplines in China to the forefront of the world," said Wu, who is also an academician at CAS.