World Insights: From labs to satellites: China's scientific impact expands worldwide

LONDON -- From Beijing's bustling laboratories to remote sensing satellites orbiting above, a series of recently released international rankings and reports from prestigious institutions and major academic publishers reveal a "meteoric rise" in China's research capabilities. The findings show that China has firmly established itself as a leading force in innovation quality and scientific leadership, injecting new vitality into the global quest for sustainable development.

TOP-TIER INNOVATION HUBS

The newly released Nature Index 2025 Science Cities supplement shows that the number of Chinese cities in the global top ten rose from five in 2023 to six in 2024, marking the first time China holds a majority in the rankings.

Measured by "Share," the primary metric of the Nature Index, Beijing has retained its position as the world's top science city for the ninth consecutive year. The capital's research output grew by more than 9 percent between 2023 and 2024.

The index also places Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing and Hangzhou firmly within the global top ten. Shanghai alone recorded a surge of nearly 20 percent in output.

For the first time, Chinese cities account for more than half of the world's top ten scientific research hubs, according to the Nature Index 2025 Science Cities supplement.

Further analysis shows that Chinese cities hold a strong advantage in chemistry, physical sciences, and earth and environmental sciences, leading the global rankings in all three fields. Notably, Chinese cities claimed all the top ten positions in chemistry for the first time. In the other two subject areas, they secured six of the top ten spots, with Beijing ranking first worldwide across all three domains.

Broader innovation metrics confirm this trend. The Global Innovation Index 2025, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ranked the "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" cluster as the No. 1 science and technology cluster in the world. For the first time, China has also entered the ranks of the world's top ten most innovative economies.

ADVANCING TOWARD GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

Alongside overall improvements in scientific research output, the international influence of Chinese scientists has continued to grow.

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) highlights this structural shift. Data shows that Chinese scientists now lead more than half of all joint research projects with peers in the United Kingdom, with similar leadership patterns emerging in collaborations with partners in the United States and Europe.

This leadership is supported by world-class research quality. In the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list released by Clarivate, a global analytics leader, the Chinese Academy of Sciences secured the top spot worldwide with 258 mentions, surpassing Harvard University.

Analysis by the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) offers further validation. Its November report noted that when ranked by high-impact publications rather than total volume, China has surpassed the United States in research strength, particularly in mathematics, computing and engineering.

"I have witnessed first-hand the developments that have led to what many may find a surprising - even shocking - development," said Erik Forsberg, the report's author, referring to the rapid evolution of China's academic capabilities over the past two decades.

A comprehensive 70-year study released by New York University earlier this year found that China produced 47 percent of all remote sensing journal papers worldwide in 2023.

CONTRIBUTING TO GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

A recent global report released by Springer Nature, a world-renowned scientific publishing organization, shows that China is the largest contributor to papers related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chinese scientific achievements are playing an increasingly important role in the formulation of global SDG policies.

China's SDG-related research findings have been widely cited in various SDG policy documents, with 25 percent of citations coming from international organizations such as the World Health Organization. Since 2022, the impact of Chinese SDG-related papers on global health and environmental policy documents has been particularly significant, the report said.

"China's research results are widely cited across different countries," said Nicola Jones, director of the SDG Programme at Springer Nature, highlighting the global utility of Chinese scientific output.

This aligns with a broader trend noted by Nature Editor-in-Chief Magdalena Skipper. In an earlier interview with Xinhua, Skipper observed that while scientific research is a global endeavor, China is making an increasingly influential contribution to the global research ecosystem across multiple metrics.