Japan remains the major scientific power in Asia-Pacific
Japan remains the major scientific power in Asia-Pacific, despite China nipping at its heels – according to the Nature Publishing Index (NPI) 2013 Asia-Pacific published today as a supplement toNature.
Japan, which is overcoming the impacts of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, with the help of a US$1.8 billion science stimulus package, continues to lead the Asia-Pacific NPI in physics, life sciences and earth and environmental sciences.
Despite the University of Tokyo being knocked off the top of the Asia-Pacific NPI institution rankings for the first time by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the institution is still the top contributor to Nature.
Growth in China’s output is outpacing Japanese science, and the former may overtake Japan in Nature publications within one or two years.
South Korea regains scientific impetus
South Korea ranks fourth for scientific research output in the region, according to the Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific released today.
In 2013, the nation significantly increased its NPI output following a slight drop in 2012.
Named a possible ‘one to watch’ by the supplement editors, with high levels of investment in science and technology announced by both government and private enterprise, its NPI output is growing faster than China’s.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has risen two places to take top spot above Seoul National University, which has retained second place. Pohang University of Science and Technology has leapt from eighth to third, with a more-than-threefold increase in corrected count, adjusted for the proportional contribution of collaborative institutions.
Last year’s number one, Yonsei University, could not maintain its exceptional 2012 NPI output and has dropped to seventh spot.
It is now just above a newcomer, the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), funded as part of the government’s increased investment in basic science. IBS plans to open 50 research centres by 2017 and will no doubt provide increasing contributions in the next few years.
Singapore’s scientific output continues to grow
Singapore holds its own among its bigger Asia-Pacific neighbours, ranking fifth for scientific research output according to the Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific released today.
The country’s multi-billion dollar research and development investment programme has been steadily growing over the past decade and its NPI output almost doubled in 2013.
Singapore’s three significant research institutions all rank in the Asia-Pacific top 20. The National University of Singapore (NUS), sixth in the Asia-Pacific, outperformed the top institutions from higher-ranked nations, Australia and South Korea.
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) recorded a 250% increase in corrected count to take second place in Singapore and 12th in the region. Third is the national research body, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (at 19 in the region).
NUS and NTU both rocketed up the global rankings in 2013, to 46 (from 74 in 2012) and 73 (from 217), respectively.
The Nature Publishing Index 2013 Asia-Pacific has been released as a supplement to Nature today. It measures the output of research articles from nations and institutes published in the 18 Nature-branded primary research journals over the calendar year to provide a snapshot of research in the Asia-Pacific in 2013. To see the latest results for the region, and the Nature Publishing Index Global Top 100, visit the Index website at www.natureasia.com/en/publishing-index/. The data posted on the website is updated every week with a moving window of 12 months of data.
