The China Institute of Scientific and Technical Information (often referred to as “the Institute”) recently released its “2024 China Science and Technology Paper Statistical Report” in Beijing. The report indicates that China continues to hold the top position globally in terms of the number of influential journal papers across various disciplines, high-level international journal publications, and citation counts.
Since 1987, the Institute has been responsible for the statistical analysis of Chinese researchers’ publication activities, both domestically and internationally. Each year, it publishes a comprehensive analysis report on China’s scientific paper output, which has expanded over time to include statistical analyses related to Chinese scientific journals, based on the needs of technological innovation and development. In 2023, the Institute added analyses on preprint platform papers and key academic conferences.
The highest-impact journals in each discipline are regarded as the most influential globally. In 2023, among 178 disciplines, there were 161 high-impact journals (including interdisciplinary journals), and the total number of papers published in these influential journals was 51,440. China contributed 14,227 papers to these journals, which accounts for 27.7% of the global total, placing it at the top worldwide.
High-level international journal papers are defined as those published in representative scientific journals that rank in the top 10% of their discipline based on impact factor and total citation counts, with a minimum of 50 papers published annually. In 2023, 384 international scientific journals were recognized as representative for their disciplines, resulting in 352,500 high-level international papers. Based on analysis focusing on first authors from first institutions, China published 118,500 high-level international papers, making up 33.6% of the global total, and garnered 818,900 citations, leading the world in both publication and citation counts.
Papers published in the past two years have been cited extensively, with those entering the top 0.1% of citations in their discipline recognized as “hot papers.” Additionally, papers cited among the top 1% in the last ten years are designated as “highly cited papers.” As of July this year, China had 2,071 hot papers, accounting for 48.4% of the global total, marking a 2.5% increase from the 2023 report and maintaining its position as the leader. The United States followed with 1,625 hot papers in second place. China also has 65,700 highly cited papers, representing 33.8% of the world total, a 3% increase from the previous year, putting it in second place behind the United States, which has 76,500 highly cited papers, accounting for 39.3%.
Three internationally recognized journals, “Cell,” “Nature,” and “Science,” have a reputation for academic excellence. In 2023, these journals published a total of 5,907 papers, with Chinese authors contributing 395, moving China’s rank from fourth to second place compared to 2022.
According to the latest statistics from the past decade, China’s researchers have an average citation count of 16.20 per paper, surpassing the global average of 15.76 for the first time. Seven disciplines—materials science, engineering technology, chemistry, environment and ecology, computer science, agricultural science, and mathematics—rank first globally in citation counts.
The report highlights that in 2023, China continued to engage in high-quality open collaboration, with international co-authored papers accounting for one-third of its highly cited papers. In total, international collaboration made up 20.4% of all papers published by Chinese authors, with 73.8% of those being led by Chinese first authors, collaborating with partners from 177 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Japan.
The citation of China’s international scientific papers by global peers reflects the international attention on China’s scientific innovation. The report further shows that over 40% of papers published in 2023 received citations in the same year from international sources.
Additionally, the report noted an improvement in the influence of Chinese international scientific journals. In 2023, 37 Chinese journals had citation frequencies that placed them in the top 25% of their discipline, an increase of two from 2022. Furthermore, 149 journals ranked in the top 25% based on impact factor, rising by 12 from the previous year.
