Japan’s science and technology think tank reported that for the third year in a row, Japan ranked 13th in the world for the number of high-quality scientific papers — those in the top 10% most cited.
Japan is 3rd in the world for research spending and number of researchers, but its research quality remains low.
The ranking, based on average results from 2021–2023, showed China in 1st place for the fifth straight year, the US in 2nd, and Japan behind Iran in 13th. While Japan and many Western countries are producing fewer top papers, China, India, and South Korea are increasing theirs.
Because some suspected China’s ranking was boosted by Chinese researchers citing each other, this year’s analysis also ranked countries using only citations from G7 and OECD nations. In that list, the US came 1st, China 2nd, and Japan 11th. Even so, China’s growth in high-quality research remains significant.
by MagazineKey4532