Résumé : | his year in science has provided some major advances and some enduring challenges. On the global stage, China continues to grow as a formidable force in research and discovery as it has for the last several decades. The total number of citable documents published worldwide in 2018 (the most recent full year) has grown to 3.5 million from 3.4 million in 2017. During this same period, the U.S. National Science Foundation reported that China had, for the first time, overtaken the United States in total scientific publications. Reports from SCImago show nearly equivalent numbers of publications for the two countries (United States: 570,104; China: 569,227). However, the citations to those publications remain higher in the United States (528,000; ranked first) compared to China (399,000; ranked second). Another way to compare the impact of scientific output is to look at the h-index, which combines the number of publications and the number of citations to those publications. The United States has a 2018 h-index of 2222 (2222 articles cited 2222 or more times), followed by the United Kingdom (1373), Germany (1203), Canada (1102), and France (1094). China ranks 13th in h-index (794). For those who enjoy publication metric trivia, San Marino was the country with the highest rank for citations per article (15.3) and a total of 38 publications, which emphasizes the potential folly associated with metric abuse. The 2019 investments in research and development by the United States are estimated at $581 billion (and growing slowly), with China at $519 billion and climbing steadily and rapidly ($400 billion in 2018). China's investments in research funding will likely eclipse gross research and discovery spending in the United States within the next 5 years (Fig. 1). The United States remains the world's top destination for students seeking advanced research training (PhD and postdoctoral students). In summary, the research landscape continues to expand with growing influence from China and other eastern countries who have made significant investments in research infrastructure over the past several decades. |