NPIASIA-PACIFICThe widening horizonIn 2013, the <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> region increased its spending on science, upped its share of NPIoutput, and broadened the scope of its research. While Japan still leads the <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong>NPI, China is snapping at its heels. Of the smaller nations, Singapore is starting to live up tothe aspirations laid out by its government to become a state of innovation.Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose — the 2013 <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong>Nature Publishing Index (NPI) turns the old expression on itshead. On the surface, this latest snapshot of the regional sciencelandscape appears similar to last year’s. But there’s a lot happeningbehind the bare numbers.The number of articles contributed by <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> researchers to theNPI has increased by 36% from 2012, and the region’s share of the globalNPI has also risen, from 28% to 31%.The order of the top five <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> countries is the same as for the pastfive years: Japan, China, Australia, South Korea and Singapore. But realsigns of change are emerging. In 2013, for the first time, China contributedmore articles to Nature journals than did Japan, although China still had alower corrected count (CC). Also for the first time the Chinese Academyof Sciences (CAS) bettered the region’s perennial leader, The University ofTokyo on corrected count. China is on pace to take over as the top <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> contributor to the NPI within the next two or three years.Further down the list, Singapore’s multi-billion dollar research anddevelopment investment programme has been steadily increasing overthe past decade and its NPI output almost doubled in 2013. Havingcatapulted its first institution, the National University of Singapore(NUS), into the Global Top 100 in 2012, Singapore boosted its presencethis year with the addition of Nanyang Technological University (NTU).These two — along with Singapore’s governmental Agency for Science,Technology and Research (A*STAR) — have pushed aside some mucholder institutions from larger countries for places in the regional top 20.BASIC DIFFERENCESOne of the key drivers of the output increase in the NPI for <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> nations has been growth in the still-young journal NatureCommunications, which now accounts for 35% of all papers in theNPI, rising to 44% of the NPI <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong>. This online-only journalpublishes papers across a broad range of disciplines, albeit with a lesserscientific reach, than Nature or any of the specialized research journals.Just over a quarter of articles in Nature featured authors from the <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> region, compared to 39% of articles in Nature Communications;only Nature Genetics had a larger share of <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> authors. So theinfluence of <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> science, while growing, may not be as greatas the raw NPI numbers suggest. The region’s science community isacutely aware of this. In 2012, for instance, South Korea established itsInstitute for Basic Science (IBS) programme. The IBS is already showingits exploratory science credentials and is in eighth place in the countryhaving published nine articles in Nature titles in 2013 (page 26).Of the <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> nations, Japan published the most papers inNature in 2013, with 73. The country has a strong scientific heritage, andalso boasts 16 scientific Nobel prizewinners, whereas China and SouthKorea have none. The NPI figures demonstrate this maturity in otherways. Japan topped the output in three subject categories in the NPI —physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and environmental sciences— showing that quality of its science is still unsurpassed in the region.But maturity can also mean a lack of youthful exuberance. Japan’s23.7% growth in NPI output in 2013 was the smallest increase of anyof the top five <strong>Asia</strong>-<strong>Pacific</strong> nations — following a five-year trend. Andat 0.44 CC per thousand researchers, Japan’s efficiency of production ofscience sits in the middle of the packOn the back of sheer numbers, China has become the heavyweight,publishing more papers in the NPI than any other country in theregion. And it is forging ahead technologically, with 2013 milestonesincluding: the world’s fastest computer; the world’s deepest particlephysics experiment; and landing an autonomous roving vehicle on themoon (page 20).But these headlines do not tell the whole story. Senior Chinesescientific figures, both within the country and outside, have expressedconcern that the country’s core technologies still mainly depend onforeign innovation. (Similar comments have been made about SouthKorea and Taiwan.) China has also been criticized for spendingsmall proportions of its expanding science and technology budgeton actual research, with large sums set aside for administration.Critics point to management systems that discourage innovation andpoorly-paid academics.These points are supported by NPI data,“On the back ofsheer numbers,China has becomethe heavyweight,publishing morepapers in theNPI than anyother country inthe region.”which shows China to have the lowestefficiency levels of the top five countries– 0.19 CC per thousand researchers. Andalthough the country’s increase in scienceoutput since 2009 has been impressive, inthe past year several countries — includingSouth Korea, Taiwan and Singapore — havesurpassed its growth rate.The Australian figures for 2013 show solidachievement (page 24). Its contributionto Nature journals grew by more than50%. The NPI data shows that the efficiency of its researchers iscompetitive, and it has the second highest level of internationalcollaboration in the region. The top Australian institutions areclimbing steadily up the world rankings, and three — the Universityof Melbourne, the Australian National University, and the Universityof Queensland — are in the regional top 20. Whether the nation’soutput continues to grow, particularly in its strength of environmentalscience, will depend largely on the level of support from its newconservative government.South Korea could be one to watch in the NPI. With high levels ofinvestment in science and technology announced by both governmentand private enterprise, and the first papers emerging from its new IBSprogramme, the nation is on the verge of considerable expansion in basicscience (page 26). Already its output is growing faster than China’s, and itis third after Japan and China in both the physical sciences and chemistry.Singapore’s small population — a mere 0.4% of China’s — willalways pose difficulties for it in regional comparisons. But it has thefastest growth rate in science of any country in the region, high levelsof researcher efficiency and strong collaboration. Singapore is gaininga reputation for its innovation and in order to leverage this, much ofthe nation’s effort is concentrated in its three world-class researchinstitutions, NUS, NTU and A*STAR; other institutions do not figurein the upper echelons of the NPI (page 27). ■8 | NATURE PUBLISHING INDEX 2013 | ASIA-PACIFIC
ASIA-PACIFICNPIRESEARCH OUTPUTThe size of the bubble corresponds to each country/territory's corrected count for 2013. The ratio of corrected count to number ofarticles is shown on the circumference: a shorter line signals more international collaborationsRatio of corrected count (CC)to article count (AC) (%)Relative sizebased on CCJapanAC: 462CC: 290.01PhilippinesAC: 2 / CC: 0.01MongoliaAC: 1 / CC: 0.02FijiAC: 1 / CC: 0.06IndonesiaAC: 3 / CC: 0.34CambodiaAC: 2 / CC: 0.50VietnamAC: 5 / CC: 0.54ThailandAC: 10 / CC: 0.66ChinaAC: 493CC: 245.19MalaysiaAC: 11 / CC: 1.35New ZealandAC: 33 / CC: 7.92ASIA-PACIFICOUTPUT2013IndiaAC: 40 / CC: 11.45TaiwanAC: 49 / CC: 18.89SingaporeAC: 116CC: 41.52South KoreaAC: 156CC: 66.89AustraliaAC: 264CC: 103.76NATURE PUBLISHING INDEX 2013 | ASIA-PACIFIC | 9
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