U.S. no longer leader in research, is overtaken by Asia and Europe

 PHILADELPHIA and LONDON,
PRN - GHN News Editor -- The United States no longer dominates
scientific research, as Asia and Europe both now surpass it, finding the
U.S. no longer a "colossus of science" it once was.

A
study from Thomson Reuters recently released observes that research
output from the U.S. has been overtaken by both Asia and Europe.  In
1981 the U.S. was the dominant leader with nearly 40 percent of research
papers in the most influential journals.  It is now down to 29 percent.

Europe
now produces research papers at 36 percent, up from 33 percent.
Asia-Pacific has increased from 13 percent to 31 percent.

China's
increase has been truly significant in terms of world share of research
output, growing from 0.4 percent in 1981 to 10.9 percent in 2009. China is now the second largest single-nation producer behind the US.

The
US continues its strong investment in health-related research and
biomedical sciences, research in fields but is lagging behind in the
physical sciences and engineering.  Asian countries, on the other hand,
have developed a research economy more closely linked to their strong
industrial manufacturing base and are on the rise in production in
materials science and engineering.

"While the total volume of research output for the US has not risen as quickly as Europe and Asia, the average influence of US research papers remains high at 40 percent above the world average," said Jonathan Adams,
director of research evaluation at Thomson Reuters. "European nations
have, however, begun to close the gap in terms of quality, and the UK in
particular almost matches the US in terms of average influence -- and
in certain fields even exceeds it."

Most U.S. research is concentrated in the top institutions, which the study suggests may contribute to its diminished position.