Paper trails

In 1997, Chinese researchers' original research papers published in Nature accounted for about 0.4 percent, data from the Springer Nature Group showed. By 2016, Chinese contributions had risen to around 11 percent.

Fast forward to 2023, when Chinese researchers published over 110,000 papers in leading international journals, representing roughly one-third of the global total, according to the latest annual report released by the China Institute of Scientific and Technical Information in September.

These papers were cited over 818,000 times, ranking China at the forefront globally, the report said.

Researchers said it is no accident that Chinese universities and institutions, especially those in Shanghai, have recently produced world-class research in batches. These achievements are underpinned by a systematic research support mechanism that attracts top talent, while encouraging innovation.

"Last year, 158 papers by scientists from the city were published in Cell, Nature, and Science, accounting for 30 percent of the country's total. They were published at a rate of one paper every two or three days," said Luo Dajin, director of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

James Crabbe, a supernumerary fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford University, and a former editor-in-chief of an international academic journal, said the situation is "quite different" from the past, when Chinese submissions were sometimes of a lower quality.

Since then, remarkable improvement has been seen, he said.

"There are now more scientific papers published by authors from China than in the United States, which is wonderful. That's a tremendous testament to the value China has given to the world in our science understanding," Crabbe said.