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Research. Image Credit: MedCityNews

For centuries, Western Europe and North America have resided at the centre of innovation, research, and scientific advancement. Starting with the Scientific Revolution, which saw the advancement of modern science, the major European countries began to assert their prowess in the intellectual arena. Jumping ahead, up through the age of Imperialism and into the Industrial Revolution of the mid-18th and 19th centuries, the United Kingdom emerged as the clear leader in scholarship and technological innovation. Beginning in the 19th century, the United states moves to the forefront of global scientific efforts; a place it arguably holds even today. Despite the storied history of western dominance of science in the modern age, recent research suggests a swing in the balance of power may be under way.

 Several recent articles in Nature News & Comment have reported that, over the last decade, China has slowly maneuvered its way to the top.  Specifically, China is now the world’s third-largest producer of scientific research articles and has nearly tripled the percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) it invests in science and innovation. Even as the combined productivity of the European Union and US has declined, China’s own output has climbed from 3% to 11% since 2001. Furthermore, at 1.98% GDP investment in research and development in 2012, China has officially surpassed Europe and now places third, behind the US and Japan. Interestingly, while European investments remain relatively stagnant, China is set to increase to 2.5% GDP investment in R&D by 2020. No matter how one looks at it, China, and many other parts of Asia, are rapidly becoming global competitors in the race for science supremacy.

Perhaps more worrying that China’s rise in the ranks of international funding and scientific innovation and publishing, is the widespread decline of education is mathematics and science in western countries. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an association of 34 member countries aimed at aligning domestic and international policies, administers a test to assess the success of each countries teaching in mathematics, reading, and science. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is administered to 15-year-old students every three years, and is meant as a comprehensive performance review of education policies. Once the dominant contestants for the top 10 overall educational results, the 2012 PISA results show that western countries have rapidly fallen behind Asian constituents, with the US scoring below the OECD average in all three categories of interest.

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Ranks. OECD 2012.

So has the time of western-led scientific advancement come to an end? Probably not. Although the current numbers show that the the EU and North America are lagging, the US has retained its position as the number one country for research and development and foreign direct investment. Furthermore, while China’s %GDP investment in research and innovation has surpassed that of the European Union, the total dollar-amount investment made by the EU still remains higher. Additionally, the same article discussing China’s recent growth in research out-put also noted that the US remains the leading producer of highly cited literature, whereas Chinese-published material is largely cited within China alone, and argues that this may be a case of quantity over quality. Lastly, international research collaboration and ‘big science’ is at an all time high, suggesting that while each country is  facing its own challenges, collaboration may allow for sharing of the burden.

– Joseph Burant