Accomplished in Technology:
Taiwan’s Research Upswing
by Christopher King, Editor
Since the early 1990s, Taiwan has steadily increased its output of
scientific papers, particularly in the last five years, at a rate
exceeding many of its fellow "Asian Tiger" nations. This output is
concentrated in specialty areas within engineering, computer
science, and materials.
For a detailed examination of research from Taiwan, Science
Watch turned to the
Thomson
ReutersNational Science Indicators
database, which tracks publication and citation figures for
more than 180 nations. The first graph (to the right)
displays Taiwan’s year-by-year output of papers (all
fields) in journals indexed by Clarivate between 1990
and 2008, with comparable figures for Singapore, Thailand,
and Malaysia.
More than a decade and a half has elapsed since
Science Watch scrutinized the Asian Tigers, the
comparatively small but economically emergent nations of the
Pacific Rim (5[6]: 1-2, June 1994). At that time, based on
figures covering 1981 through 1993, Taiwan was predominant
in scientific output compared to the nations mentioned
above, even surpassing South Korea in 1993 by nearly 2,000
papers. South Korea, however, was on a tear of its own. As
Science Watch reported in 2001, South Korea’s
upward path in output intersected that of Taiwan in 1997 and
kept going
(12[3]: 1-2, May/June 2001). In recent
years, South Korea (although not shown in the accompanying
graph) has topped Taiwan by roughly 10,000 papers per year:
in 2007, for example, 27,284 papers for South Korea versus
Taiwan’s count of 18,599.
Still, Taiwan’s rise has been impressive. As assessed
according to the main fields covered in National Science
Indicators, the nation’s concentration is clearly in
the physical sciences. Taiwan’s greatest presence in any
broad specialty area is in Engineering. In that field, papers
listing at least one Taiwan-based institution account for 4.23%
of publications indexed by Clarivate between 2004 and
2008. Computer Science is next (3.48% of the field), followed
by Materials Science (2.86%) and Physics (2.45%).
For a closer look, Science Watch also examined upwards
of 250 specific subfields to see where Taiwan’s efforts
have been concentrated; the results are in the table at the
bottom of this page. Atop the list is Engineering:
Manufacturing, a field in which Taiwan’s 1,670 papers
constituted more than 8% of the field for the years 2004 to
2008. Operations Research & Management is next, with
Taiwan’s representation topping 7% of Thomson
Reuters-indexed papers during the five-year period.
Along with assorted sub-specialties of engineering, the table
highlights Taiwan’s emphasis in computer science and
materials. A notable exception is the field of Complementary
& Integrative Medicine, in which Taiwan’s
contribution accounted for nearly 5% of papers. Also on the
list is Management, with Taiwan’s participation at just
over 4% of the field.
Science Watch also sought to assess
Taiwan’s output in fields outside the physical
sciences. The second graph (to the right) tracks the
nation’s annual number of papers in four main
life-sciences fields between 1990 and 2008. Taiwan’s
output in three of the fields—Biology &
Biochemistry, Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Molecular
Biology & Genetics—rises modestly in the course of
the nearly two-decade period, although only in Biology &
Biochemistry does Taiwan’s output exceed 500 papers
per year. Clinical Medicine, by contrast, rises strikingly,
from 350 Clarivate-indexed papers in 1990 to 3,928 in
2008—more than a tenfold increase.
In addition to the steep rise in Clinical Medicine, figures
from National Science Indicators suggest that the
nation is also increasing its presence in other main fields
apart from the physical sciences. For example, a comparison of
output during two successive five-year periods—1999 to
2003 and 2004 to 2008—indicates that Taiwan’s
largest increase in number of papers occurred in
Psychiatry/Psychology, with a jump of nearly 190% between the
two periods. Economics & Business saw a nearly comparable
increase, of 178%, and papers in general Social Sciences rose
by nearly 170%.
The physical sciences, meanwhile, also feature prominently in
the list of Taiwan’s fields showing the largest increases
in output. Space Science, for example, accounted for
Taiwan’s fourth-highest rate of increase between the two
periods, at 105%. And the nation appears to be consolidating
its presence in Computer Science, upping its output by 89%.
The table of Taiwan’s particular specialty areas also
includes figures comparing the nation’s citation impact
against the world average for each field. Aside from a couple
of exceptions in the listed fields, Taiwan’s
cites-per-paper figure is below the world average. The same can
be seen when one examines each of the main physical-sciences
fields in which Taiwan is most concentrated. In Engineering,
Chemistry, Computer Science, and Physics, for example, the
country’s cites-per-paper mark for the period 2004 to
2008 registered at roughly 80% of the world average. Materials
Science, on the other hand, showed comparative strength, with
Taiwan’s impact score within 5% of the world average
during the same period.
Thus, although rising in output, Taiwan still has some progress
to make in terms of citation impact. Nevertheless, as the
nation increases its participation in world science and builds
on its strengths, impact seems certain to rise
commensurately.
Christopher King is the Editor of the Science
Watch® Newsletter, Thomson
Reuters.
Taiwan’s
Research Output by Specialty
Area
(Ranked by share of world literature,
2004-08)