Status of China in Science and Technology as Reflected in its Publications Output, 1997–2007
The study examines China’s performance in science and technology (S&T) during 1997–2007, based on several parameters including the country’s annual average growth rate, global publication share and rank, strong and weak subject areas (in terms of national priority, international collaborative share and global share), institutional profiles of select top institutions, the overall international collaboration profile and major collaborative partners, patterns of communication in national and international journals and characteristics of its top highly cited papers. The study also compares similarities of China’s research profile with nineteen other top productive countries.
China's quantitative expansion phase: exponential growth but low impact
It is shown that although China’s publication share in the world has been increasing exponentially, its impact defined as the number of citations per publication lags far behind. This state of affairs is expressed as a ‘quantitative expansion phase’. China’s science needs to move from the ‘quantitative expansion’ phase in which it is nowadays to a ‘rising quality’ phase. Correspondingly scientists’ motivation for publishing papers must shift from ‘driven by benefit’ to ‘driven by excellence and timeliness’. Currently, China’s science although blending into the world, is not yet a full player in its major league. Yet, all growth-related graphs show an exponential increase. Moreover, doubling times calculated in this article are clear indications that, despite obvious problems and short-comings, the quality of Chinese research as a whole is increasing very quickly. We conclude that, if the necessary measures are taken and the observed exponentially increasing trend continues, the impact of Chinese research results will soon catch up with that of other major countries.
Perceived job importance and job performance satisfaction of selected clinical nutrition management responsibilities.
A nationwide survey of clinical nutrition managers was conducted to assess perceived importance of selected job responsibilities and perceived performance satisfaction of those job responsibilities. A questionnaire was developed to achieve the study objectives, validated by an expert panel, and pilot-tested prior to data collection. All members of the American Dietetic Association's Clinical Nutrition Management dietetic practice group (N=1,668) were asked to rate the importance of selected job responsibilities and their satisfaction with those responsibilities using Likert-type scales with descriptions. Results revealed that clinical nutrition managers perceived all job responsibilities listed in the questionnaire to be important (ie, the mean score of each responsibility was >3.0 of a 4.0 scale). Respondents rated regulatory-related job responsibilities as most important and were most satisfied with their performance of these responsibilities. Following regulatory-related responsibilities, clinical nutrition managers perceived patient satisfaction and staff retention to be more important than other responsibilities. In general, clinical nutrition managers were more satisfied with their job performance for job responsibilities that they ranked as more important.