The last year has seen steady development of scientific research in China, but long-standing problems remain that are likely to impede further advancement, according to a report published last week.

There have been impressive advances particularly in the areas of biological and archaeological research but less so in other areas, the report said.

Science Report 2002 is one of three in a set released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

It focuses on the scientific research advancement and events of the past two years.

The reports are regarded as one of the most authoritative and comprehensive evaluations of China's scientific research, and its influence goes beyond the scientific community.

Their publication in early March has become an annual event.

The publication date was carefully timed to just before the annual convention of the National People's Congress. They are said to be sent to each delegate at the convention for use as a reference book.

Major breakthroughs

Major achievements by Chinese scientists in the past year are illustrated by the two top 10 charts in the report: one about major scientific advances and another about basic research.

The two charts overlap in a couple of items. For example, the completion of the Human Genome Project, to which Chinese scientists made their distinct contributions, top both charts. China completed the deciphering of 1 percent of the total genome of human beings. Also in the area of biological research, China independently decoded the genome of rice, with a "working draft" of the rice genome released free to the world via the Internet.

The rice genome, about one-seventh that of the human being's, is so far the largest plant genome in the world that has been deciphered.

As a "pattern crop," the decoding of the biological secrets in rice may shed light on our understanding of other important crops, such as wheat and corn, and lay a solid foundation for improving their quality through genetic engineering, according to the book.

"It may compare with the Human Genome Project in terms of its significance for agriculture," the book said.

From a scientific viewpoint, China's launch of the "Shenzhou 2" unmanned spaceship last year tops the list of scientific advances.

The spacecraft reached its intended orbit 10 minutes after launch and successfully carried out instructions from the command centre, the report said.

A number of experiments on life science, astronomy and physics have been carried out aboard the spacecraft.

The report lauded it as a breakthrough towards mastering the technology required for manned space travel.

However, some argued that it was more an engineering feat than scientific advancement.

Last year also witnessed a bumper harvest in archaeological research in China, with a number of important papers published in top scientific journals, such as Science and Nature."

For many years, archaeological research has been the major area, if not the only area, in which Chinese scientists have done internationally known research.

In the November issue of Nature, Chinese scientist Shu Degan and his colleagues released their findings of a new kingdom of extinct organisms leading to the birth of vertebrates.

The findings were based on fossils found at the world-famous Chengjiang Fauna in South China.

This is the sixth time Nature has published Shu's findings relating to Chengjiang Fauna, where traces of the "Cambrian Explosion of life" have been found.

In the May issue of Science, Chinese scientists released their discovery of a new mammal living 195 million years ago, pushing back the universally believed time of mammals' emergence by 45 million years.

Shu's "finds have rewritten the early history of mammals," the report said.

Also in the same issue, Chinese scientist Li Jianghai published his findings in North China with his United States collaborators of the oldest rock on Earth, a piece of serpentine that came into being 2.5 billion years ago.

SCI: citation rate still low

The publication of papers in authoritative journals, not necessarily Science and Nature, are regarded as the most important benchmarks for evaluating the scientific research capacity of a country.

The Science Citation Index (SCI) published in the United States has long been recognized as such a benchmark.

SCI provides access to current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts and cited references in 3,700 of the world-leading scholarly science and technical journals covering more than 100 disciplines.

China has constantly followed the variation of SCI figures in relation to its science paper output.

The report comes out with the latest statistics in this regard for 2000.

According to the report, SCI records 30,000 papers authored or co-authored by Chinese researchers, except those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, a 19.7 per cent increase from the previous year.

With the increase, China jumped from 10th to 8th in the SCI ranking of science paper output. The citation rate of the papers also demonstrates a 24 per cent rise compared with previous years.

"It indicates an upward trend in terms of scholarly influence of papers authored by Chinese scientists," wrote Zhang Lihua, a researcher with the Institute of Natural Science History, in his analysis of the report.

He found that the top 10 research institutes in the SCI paper rankings in China for 2000 are all under the CAS, like the previous year, with only slight changes in order on the ranking.

The Institute of Physics under CAS continued to top the ranking with 413 piece of papers counted by SCI.

It once again illustrates the dominant role of CAS in scientific research in China.

There are also slight changes in the ranking of top 10 universities in terms of SCI papers. Shandong University and Shanghai Jiaotong University entered the top 10, taking the places of Wuhan University and Lanzhou University.

Again, chemistry and physics are the two most fertile areas from where Chinese scientists produced 72,000 SCI papers respectively. Biology, after falling outside for a year, edges into the top six again.

Zhang also analyzed the citation rate - the direct indication of the importance of the papers - of the SCI papers authored by Chinese scientists in the report.

The Institute of Physics under CAS still tops the chart, with 555 papers cited 1,316 times. The citation rate of the total SCI papers by Chinese increased by 11 per cent, according to the statistics.

"Compared with the increase in the number of SCI papers, the citation rate increase was far less imposing," he wrote.

It was found that the average citation rate is a modest twice, with the highest 82. Only 10 pieces have been cited more than ten times. "It reflects a fact that papers of high influence are still too few in our country," he said in the report.

Award without stars

What is more embarrassing is the fact the National Award for Natural Science for 2000 and 1999 was revealed late last year with no top prize rendered.

It is not the first time, but the third in a row, that the top prize of the highest honour in the area of natural science research in China was shelved.

"It is not because the standards are too high but simply because no research achievements can be found to be convincingly innovative to deserve the top prize," said Huang Canhong, an official from the State Office of Scientific and Technological Awards, which organizes the award selection.

The standards for top prize requires the research to be internationally leading and universally recognized or to have profound impact on economic or social development, the report said.

Ten research programmes were awarded second prize for 1999, while 15 were awarded for 2000, ranging from mathematics, geology to genetics.

Compared to the lack of top prize achievements, it was fairly sensational that two scientists were conferred with the Top National Award of Science & Technology, a new award by the central government that has been dubbed China's Nobel Prize by the media.

The two scientists, Yuan Longping and Wu Wenjun, were awarded five million yuan (US$600,000) each for their outstanding accomplishments in hybrid rice research and mathematics.

However, both of them are older than 70, and their award-winning achievements were mainly earned in the 1970s.

The latest news is that the award for last year went to Huang Kun for his achievements in solid physics and to Wang Xuan for his revolutionary work in laser printing technology.

Huang is at least 80 years old, while Wang is at least 60 years old.

(China Daily March 7, 2002)