Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), with 2,661 articles published in 68 high-quality journals, continues to top the China index list, according to Nature Index China 2014, published as a supplement in Nature today by the Nature Publishing Group.

The supplement shows the contributions of more than 100 institutes within the different disciplines. Dedicated to results for papers published between 1 January and 31 December 2013 from China, the supplement shows that CAS has a larger output in the index than all the other research institutions worldwide.

By 2013 weighted fractional count (WFC), CAS is currently China’s largest output in the new Nature Index with 200 Chinese institutions contributors. WFC gives a measure of the relative contribution to each paper. Figures show that the Academy has a WFC of 1209, 8 percent higher than that of 2012, in fact higher than many scientifically advanced countries — including Spain, Switzerland and South Korea.

Figure 1 Life sciences institutes contribute most to papers in these two journals. (Image byNature Index)

CAS is also a regular contributor to Nature and Science, having published 54 articles (WFC = 18.6) in these two top journals in 2013 (see Figure 1). By WFC this represents one-third of China’s total contribu­tion to Nature and Science, reflecting the Academy’s strength in basic research.

"For 65 years, CAS has been a rich source of technological innovation, scientific discovery and aspiring minds. Making the leap from a regional to a global leader, researchers are taking the intellectual powerhouse to soaring new heights,” said the Supplement.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of world’s largest scientific organiza­tions, with about 48,500 researchers in 114 institutes spread across the country. The Academy has just celebrated its 65th anniversary last month. CAS has made many important discoveries and techno­logical advances across diverse fields over the years, including making the first synthetic insulin from bovine sources (1965); building China’s first particle accelerator, the Beijing Electron–Positron Col­lider (1984); and the discovery of iron-based high-temperature superconductors (2008).

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences.