Evaluating quality of research papers of U.S. and China via Nature Index journalsYiren Qin1,*1Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.*Correspondence address: yiren.qin@mssm.eduAbstractA Japanese research institution reported that the quality of scientific research papers published by China has surpassed that of the U.S., ranking first in the world. However, the conclusion is questionable. Currently, there is no standard way to compare the quality of published research papers. In general, most high-quality papers are consistently published in Nature Index journals. Therefore, the quality of research papers can be assessed by comparing the number of papers published in Nature Index journals, which is a reliable method. Here, I first analyze the number of research papers published in all Nature Index journals in the last 3 years of U.S. and China. Further, I assess the quality of research papers published in China and the U.S. We can find that in the four fields of natural science research including chemistry, earth and environmental science, life science and physical science, the number of publications in the United States is higher than that in China. Among them, the gap is the largest in the field of life science research, the United States is 4.2 times that of China, the gap is the smallest in the field of chemical research, the United States is only 1.4 times that of China. When comparing the number of articles published in all Nature Index journals, the U.S. is 1.8 times that of China, still in the leading position. Therefore, in terms of the number of articles published in the internationally recognized Nature Index journals, the quality of the papers published in the U.S. still surpasses that of China. Recently, a Japanese research institution reported that the number and quality of scientific research papers published by China has surpassed that of the U.S., ranking first in the world [1]. The study found that in the top 1% of the world's most cited papers in 2018-2020, there were 4,330 studies in the U.S., accounting for 24.9%, but in comparison, there were 4,744 studies in China, accounting for 27.2%. Therefore, they concluded that the quality of research papers published by China also surpasses that of the U.S. and ranks first in the world. In terms of the number of research papers, it is well-documented that the total number of research papers published by China currently exceeds that of the U.S. However, the conclusion that the quality of research papers published by China also surpasses that of the U.S. is questionable. Currently, there is no standard way to compare the quality of published research papers. However, in general, most high-quality papers are consistently published and indexed in Nature Index journals. Therefore, the quality of research papers can be assessed by comparing the number of papers published in Nature Index journals, which is a reliable method. Here, I first analyze the number of research papers published in all Nature Index journals in the last 3 years (2019, 2020, 2021) of U.S. and China. Further, I assess the quality of research papers published in China and the U.S. At present, there are 82 journals included in the Nature Index journals, which are distributed in the four fields of natural science research including chemistry, earth and environmental science, life science and physical science. These four fields include 20, 16, 43 and 24 journals respectively. Among them, the Nature Index journals in these four research fields repeatedly include 5 large-scale comprehensive journals, such as Nature, Science, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature communications, and Science Advances. 1. The number of papers published in nature Index journals in chemistry in the U.S. and China The U.S. published 47,990 articles in 20 Nature Index journals in chemistry, compared with 35,349 in China. The U.S. is 1.4 times that of China (Figure 1 and Table 1). However, there are 7 journals in which China published more articles than the US. They are Advanced Materials, Analytical Chemistry, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Chemical Communications, Chemical Science, Inorganic Chemistry, and The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Among them, the journal with the largest surpassing range is Chemical Communications, and the number of articles published in this journal in the United States is only 20% of that in China. 2. The number of papers published in Nature Index journals in earth and environmental science in U.S. and China In the 16 kinds of natural index journals in earth and environmental science, the total number of articles published in the U.S. is 38,645, and that in China is 16,923. The U.S. is 2.3 times that of China. Among them, China surpassed the US in the number of publications in only one journal - Water Research (Figure 1 and Table 2). 3. The number of papers published in Nature Index journals in life science in the U.S. and China The U.S. published a total of 67,529 articles in 43 journals in life science, compared with 16,087 in China, and the U.S. is 4.2 times that in China (Figure 1 and Table 3). It should be pointed out that among these journals, none of the articles published in China exceeded that of the U.S. 4. The number of papers published in Nature Index journals in physical science in the U.S. and China The U.S. published a total of 62,459 articles in 24 journals in physical science, compared with 35,291 in China. The U.S. is 1.8 times that of China (Figure 1 and Table 4). There are 6 journals in which China published more articles than the US. They are ACS Nano, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Materials, Applied Physics Letters, European Physical Journal C, and Physical Review A. Among them, the journal with the largest surpassing range is Advanced Functional Materials. The number of articles published in the journal in the United States is only 40% of that in China (Table 4). 5. The number of papers published in all Nature Index in the U.S. and China The U.S. published a total of 130,323 articles in all 82 Nature Index journals, compared with 70,906 in China. The U.S. is 1.8 times that of China (Figure 1 and Table 5). 6. Conclusion From the above data, we can find that in the four fields of natural science research including chemistry, earth and environmental science, life science and physical science, the number of publications in the United States is higher than that in China. Among them, the gap is the largest in the field of life science research, the United States is 4.2 times that of China, the gap is the smallest in the field of chemical research, the United States is only 1.4 times that of China. When comparing the number of articles published in all Nature Index journals, the U.S. is 1.8 times that of China, still in the leading position. Therefore, in terms of the number of articles published in the internationally recognized Nature Index journals, the quality of the papers published in the U.S. still surpasses that of China. References[1] Ryosuke Matsuzoe, Nikkei, China tops U.S. in quantity and quality of scientific papers. August 10, 2022 Figure LegendsFigure 1. The number of research papers in Nature Index journals in chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences and all Nature Index journals in China and U.S.
