SPOTLIGHT ON CHINANATURE MEDICINE - PDF document

1 SPOTLIGHT ON CHINANATURE MEDICINE VOLU
SPOTLIGHT ON CHINANATURE MEDICINE VOLUME 12 | NUMBER 3 | MARCH 2006 261 “I used to think that I wanted to go to the US for a postdoc. But recently I ask myself if it’s necessary.” Xuwo Ji, Beijing University student “The way of thinking of Chinese scientists is different from Western scientists. In Chinese culture, details are not so important.”GuanXia Gao, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing China is a fast becoming a global leader in every arena—including in science. In February, the Chinese government announced an ambitious scheme to boost the country’s commitment to science. The government plans to increase its annual investment in research and development to 900 billion yuan (US$112 billion) by 2020, a massive increase over the current numbers (see box below). But can China’s scientific structure sustain this growth? In the following pages, we look at a few key trends—and people—in China that could make a difference. 050100150200250 20032002200120001999199819971996199519941993High-impact papers published by Chinese scientistsNumber of high-impact papersYear Source: Science Watch B ud g e t f o r research a nd d e v elopmen t ( i n milli ons of d o ll ars ) 95 , 140 U S allocat i on f o r 200 3 100 ,75 6 US a ll ocation fo r 200 4 5. 9 P e r ce n t i n c r eas e 12 , 10 3 C h i n a ’ s a ll ocation for 200 3 13, 5 8 9 C hin a ’ s a ll ocat i on for 2 00 4 1 6 Percent i ncrea s e Apoor ©2006 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine