Chinese Academy of Sciences takes top place in NPG's Asia ranking

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China is on track to become the dominant scientific power in Asia-Pacific, according to the editors of the Nature Publishing Index (NPI) 2013 Asia-Pacific.

The editors of the NPI supplement predict that China is ‘on pace to take over as the top Asia-Pacific contributor to the NPI in the next two or three years’. In the latest rankings, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) knocked the University of Tokyo off the top spot. Chinese scientists also lead the way in publishing more papers in Nature journals than Japan or any other Asia-Pacific nation. The country is also the regional leader in chemistry.

Despite Chinese growth, Japan is still said to lead the region when the publication figures are corrected for authors’ affiliations. However, China is narrowing the gap and at this rate could potentially overtake Japan in 2014, say the editors.