Thanks for mentioning this. At a cursory glance, it does seem like Japan says China has a significant fraction of the world’s most impressive academic publishers (everyone who claims this is what Japan says neglects to cite the actual report Japan issued). I didn’t predict this was the case, and so now I am looking at this more in depth. Though this may not mean anything, they could be gaming the metrics used there.
Edit: Also, before anyone mentions it, I don’t find claims that their average researcher is underperforming compared to their western counterparts all that convincing, because science is a strongest link sort of game, not a weakest link sort of game. In fact, you may take this as a positive sign for China, because unlike in the US, they care a lot less about their average and potentially a lot more about their higher percentiles.
Thanks for mentioning this. At a cursory glance, it does seem like Japan says China has a significant fraction of the world’s most impressive academic publishers (everyone who claims this is what Japan says neglects to cite the actual report Japan issued). I didn’t predict this was the case, and so now I am looking at this more in depth. Though this may not mean anything, they could be gaming the metrics used there.
Edit: Also, before anyone mentions it, I don’t find claims that their average researcher is underperforming compared to their western counterparts all that convincing, because science is a strongest link sort of game, not a weakest link sort of game. In fact, you may take this as a positive sign for China, because unlike in the US, they care a lot less about their average and potentially a lot more about their higher percentiles.