Quantités internationales de la recherche

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday July 31 2008. It was last updated at 10:46 on July 31 2008:

Research : UK is second in the world at research
Thursday July 31 2008
UK scientists publish more research than any other country in the world except the United States, the science minister will say today.

However, China now publishes almost the same number of studies as the UK – four times as many as it did 10 years ago.

One in eight scientific studies that international researchers cite is the work of a UK academic, as are 9% of the 17m papers published in science journals each year, a government report has found.

The science minister, Ian Pearson, said: "The competitive salaries and state of the art research environments offered by China will undoubtedly attract international researchers to its shores. And this in turn will increase China's output and research impact further.

"However, the UK will not be left behind. I am confident the UK will continue to punch above its weight, retain its excellent research base and continue to be the destination of choice for leading international researchers. "

The department for innovation, universities and skills analysed 17m papers in 8,000 international scientific journals over the last year.

US scientists published 32% of the studies. Nearly one in two cited by international researchers were from the United States.

The top five countries in terms of the number of papers published are: the United States, UK, China, Germany and Japan. Most likely to be cited are: the United States, UK, Germany, Japan and France.

Last year, the UK's science budget was £3.4bn.