Japanese Media: China Ranks First Globally in Both "Attention Received" and "Citation Count" for Academic Papers
According to a report by Japanese media outlet Nippon.com on August 24: In the global ranking of scientific papers with high "attention received" and frequent citations within the natural sciences, Japan ranks 13th worldwide—unchanged from the previous year. Japan ranks fifth in total number of papers and third in research and development (R&D) expenditure. China leads globally in both "attention received" and "citation count."
Based on the "Science and Technology Indicators 2026" released by the Institute for Science and Technology Policy under Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, an investigation into the actual state of global science and technology activities was conducted. In the natural sciences, Japan ranks 13th globally in "International Recognition Citation Count" with 3,163 papers. The most notable category, "Top 1% Highly Cited Papers," stands at 271 papers, placing Japan 12th worldwide. The average annual number of papers is 66,214, ranking fifth globally.
China leads the world in the number of papers in the "top 10%" category with 84,392 papers. The United States comes second with 29,911 papers, followed by the UK with 7,696 papers. China ranks first globally in both total paper count and the number of top 1% highly cited papers, significantly outpacing other nations.
Japan has not entered the top ten since 2019. Japan's share in the fields of "Physics" and "Clinical Medicine" is higher than in other areas.
In the United States, the proportions in "Clinical Medicine," "Basic Life Sciences," and "Physics" are relatively high. Meanwhile, China shows stronger representation in "Materials Science," "Chemistry," and "Engineering."
Japan ranked fourth globally in the early 2000s but gradually fell behind China, France, and South Korea, dropping to 12th place in 2019. Since then, Japan has failed to re-enter the top ten.
Looking at other indicators, Japan's R&D spending reached 2.21 trillion yen, ranking third globally after the United States and China. The number of researchers totaled 703,000, also ranking third. Japan leads the world in patent applications filed in two or more countries, with 64,000 such applications.
Japan's government R&D funding surged from 2.7 trillion yen in 2020 to 3.7 trillion yen in 2024. Since the 2020s, R&D investment in both corporate and university sectors has increased, but this has yet to translate into a rise in rankings for significant scientific publications.
In 2025, the number of female researchers in Japan reached 190,000, accounting for 19.0% of all researchers. There were 39,000 female PhD holders.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1874382623445004/
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