A Novel Metric for Assessing National Strength in Scientific Research:Understanding China’s Research Output in Quantum Technology through Collaboration

Purpose:The 5th Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China(CPC)Central Committee clearly states that developing science and technology through self-reliance and self-strengthening provides the strategic underpinning for China’s development.Based on this background,this paper explores a metric model for assessing national scientific research strength through collaboration on research papers.Design/methodology/approach:We propose a novel metric model for assessing national scientific research strength,which sets two indicators,national scientific self-reliance(SR)and national academic contribution(CT),to reflect“self-reliance”and“self-strengthening”respectively.Taking the research papers in quantum technology as an example,this study analyzes the scientific research strength of various countries around the world,especially China in quantum technology.Findings:The results show that the research of quantum technology in China has always been relatively independent with fewer international collaboration papers and located in a more marginal position in cooperation networks.China’s academic contribution(CT)to global quantum technology research is increasing and has been greater than that of the United States in 2020.Combining the two indicators,CT and SR,China’s research strength in the quantum field closely follows the United States,and the United States is the most powerful with high research autonomy.Research limitations:This paper only reflects China’s scientific research strength in quantum technology from collaboration on research papers and doesn’t consider the segmentation of quantum technology and the industrial upstream and downstream aspects,which need further study.Practical implications:The model is helpful to better understand the national scientific research strength in a certain field from“self-reliance”and“self-strengthening”.ScienceOriginality/value:We propose a novel metric model to measure the national scientific research strength from the perspective of“self-reliance”and“self-strengthening”,which provides a solid basis for the assessment of the strength level of scientific research in countries/regions and institutions.

The Great Leap Development and Outlook of China's Scientific and Technological Strength(2000-2035)

Scientific and technological strength,the ability to achieve national strategic goals in science and technology,is not only a significant component of national comprehensive strength,but also the scientific and technological innovation foundation for continuous strengthening national comprehensive strength.The quantitative evaluation of China's scientific and technological strength from 2000 to 2020 shows tremendous progress in science and technology,transitioning from a catching-up country to an innovationdriven country.China has moved from the second array to the first array of global science and technology,securing a historic shift from mere quantity to high quality.This fully demonstrates the political advantage on the overall leadership of the Communist Party of China,the strategic advantage of innovation-driven development,and the advantages of the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide under the socialist market economy with a wealth of human resources in science and technology.Based on China's strategic requirements of pursuing self-reliance and strength in science and technology as support for national development,this paper proposes policy recommendations for the futuredevelopment of variousadvantagess and favorable conditions,aimingg to strengthen nationa1lstrength insstrategic science and technology and to implement the innovation-driven developmentstrategy.Furthermore,prospects for China's scientific and technologica1l visionfor 2025 and 2035 are presented,envisioning a significant increase in scientific and technological strength and China's entry into the advanced ranks among the most innovative countries in the world.