Page 20 - THE SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL
P. 20
MMUNITY NEWS
What Is the Impact of
U.S.-China Tensions
on U.S. Science?
By the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI)
INSIGHTS Collaboration between academic institutions in the
U.S. and China has come under increasing scrutiny
• Analysis of scientific papers in the by U.S. policymakers. In 2018, the National Institutes of
database PubMed reveals that NIH Health (NIH) began investigating hundreds of scientists,
investigations into hundreds of U.S. largely on the basis of their failure to disclose receipt
scientists since 2018 have brought about of foreign resources on federal research grants. While
a 1.9% decline in the publication rate these investigations were not specific to China, 90%
and 7.1% decline in the citation rate of the investigations as of July 2021 involved receipt
of U.S. scientists with collaborators in of resources from or activities in China. How have
China, compared with U.S. scientists these investigations into foreign influence in research
who had collaborated with scientists in affected the productivity of U.S. scientists?
other countries.
The data. Using data from PubMed and Dimensions
• The adverse effects of the academic publishing databases between 2010 and
investigations were observed across 2020, researchers collected the publication records of
many U.S. institutions of higher 102,000 medical and life scientists based in the U.S.
education and were particularly salient They then compared the publication records of U.S.-
for scientists of Asian heritage, fields based scientists who have a history of collaborations in
that receive more funding from the NIH, China to those with a history of foreign collaborations
and fields with a higher concentration of outside of China. The analysis compared the
U.S.-China collaborations. productivity of these two groups before the NIH
investigations (2015 to 2018) to the productivity of
• In fields more affected by the NIH these same two groups after the NIH investigations
investigations, the U.S. and China both (2019 to 2020). Researchers defined productivity across
produced fewer publications during two metrics: the number of author publication records
2019 and 2020 compared to the rest (publication quantity), and the number of citations
of the world, suggesting that U.S.- for each publication (publication quality). Researchers
China political tensions affect overall complemented their quantitative analyses with
scientific progress. qualitative interviews with 12 scientists.
• Interviews with scientists suggest NIH investigations cause productivity
that a reluctance to start or continue decline. Prior to the NIH investigations, U.S.-based
collaborations with China partners and scientists who collaborated internationally tended
the resulting loss in research talent and to be more productive than those who collaborated
access to labs and equipment may drive domestically, and those who collaborated with
longer-term declines in publication scientists in China were the most productive of all.
quantity and quality. However, analysis of the PubMed database indicates
that the NIH investigations have negatively affected
both the quantity and quality of publications by U.S.-
based scientists who had collaborations with China.
The number of publications of these scientists declined
by 1.9% and citations of their publications fell by 7.1%
compared to scientists with foreign collaborators
17 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
What Is the Impact of
U.S.-China Tensions
on U.S. Science?
By the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI)
INSIGHTS Collaboration between academic institutions in the
U.S. and China has come under increasing scrutiny
• Analysis of scientific papers in the by U.S. policymakers. In 2018, the National Institutes of
database PubMed reveals that NIH Health (NIH) began investigating hundreds of scientists,
investigations into hundreds of U.S. largely on the basis of their failure to disclose receipt
scientists since 2018 have brought about of foreign resources on federal research grants. While
a 1.9% decline in the publication rate these investigations were not specific to China, 90%
and 7.1% decline in the citation rate of the investigations as of July 2021 involved receipt
of U.S. scientists with collaborators in of resources from or activities in China. How have
China, compared with U.S. scientists these investigations into foreign influence in research
who had collaborated with scientists in affected the productivity of U.S. scientists?
other countries.
The data. Using data from PubMed and Dimensions
• The adverse effects of the academic publishing databases between 2010 and
investigations were observed across 2020, researchers collected the publication records of
many U.S. institutions of higher 102,000 medical and life scientists based in the U.S.
education and were particularly salient They then compared the publication records of U.S.-
for scientists of Asian heritage, fields based scientists who have a history of collaborations in
that receive more funding from the NIH, China to those with a history of foreign collaborations
and fields with a higher concentration of outside of China. The analysis compared the
U.S.-China collaborations. productivity of these two groups before the NIH
investigations (2015 to 2018) to the productivity of
• In fields more affected by the NIH these same two groups after the NIH investigations
investigations, the U.S. and China both (2019 to 2020). Researchers defined productivity across
produced fewer publications during two metrics: the number of author publication records
2019 and 2020 compared to the rest (publication quantity), and the number of citations
of the world, suggesting that U.S.- for each publication (publication quality). Researchers
China political tensions affect overall complemented their quantitative analyses with
scientific progress. qualitative interviews with 12 scientists.
• Interviews with scientists suggest NIH investigations cause productivity
that a reluctance to start or continue decline. Prior to the NIH investigations, U.S.-based
collaborations with China partners and scientists who collaborated internationally tended
the resulting loss in research talent and to be more productive than those who collaborated
access to labs and equipment may drive domestically, and those who collaborated with
longer-term declines in publication scientists in China were the most productive of all.
quantity and quality. However, analysis of the PubMed database indicates
that the NIH investigations have negatively affected
both the quantity and quality of publications by U.S.-
based scientists who had collaborations with China.
The number of publications of these scientists declined
by 1.9% and citations of their publications fell by 7.1%
compared to scientists with foreign collaborators
17 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
