Recent Developments in China-U.S. Cooperation in Science

TL;DR

This paper reviews the rapid growth and evolving nature of China-U.S. scientific collaboration over the past two decades, highlighting its significance and suggesting strategic improvements for the U.S.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of the development and current state of China-U.S. scientific cooperation, emphasizing its unprecedented growth and implications for policy.

Findings

China and U.S. are each other's top research collaborators.

Chinese scientists increasingly claim first authorship.

U.S.-China collaboration growth surpasses other bilateral scientific relations.

Abstract

China's remarkable gains in science over the past 25 years have been well documented (e.g., Jin and Rousseau, 2005a; Zhou and Leydesdorff, 2006; Shelton & Foland, 2009) but it is less well known that China and the United States have become each other's top collaborating country. Science and technology has been a primary vehicle for growing the bilateral relationship between China and the United States since the opening of relations between the two countries in the late 1970s. During the 2000s, the scientific relationship between China and the United States--as measured in coauthored papers--showed significant growth. Chinese scientists claim first authorship much more frequently than U.S. counterparts by the end of the decade. The sustained rate of increase of collaboration with one other country is unprecedented on the U.S. side. Even growth in relations with eastern European nations does not match the growth in the relationship between China and the United States. Both countries can benefit from the relationship, but for the U.S., greater benefit would come from a more targeted strategy.