Abstract:

This paper identifies and analyzes the science and technology core competencies of China, based on a sampling of approximately half of the total Chinese publication output in the Science Citation Index/ Social Science Citation Index (SCI/SSCI) [SCI. Certain data included herein are derived from the Science Citation Index/Social Science Citation Index prepared by the Thomson Scientific, Inc. (Thomson), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: © Copyright Thomson Scientific 2006. All rights reserved. [1]] for 2005. Aggregate China publication and citation bibliometrics were obtained and a hierarchical research taxonomy, based on document clustering, was generated. Additionally, bibliometrics and thematic trends were tracked over the past two decades.

The key findings were that China's output of research articles has significantly expanded in the last decade. In terms of sheer numbers of research articles, especially in cuting-edge technologies, such as nanotechnology and energetic materials, it is among the leaders. Compared to the USA, the bulk of China's articles focus on the physical and engineering sciences, while the USA articles (compared to China) focus on medical, social, and psychological sciences.

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