Beijing, China
November 12, 2009
Agricultural science is China's fastest-growing research field, according to a study released this month.
Between 1999 and 2008 the growth in agricultural science papers outpaced growth in all other topics, according to 'Global Research Report: China', released on 2 November by Thomson Reuters.
And from 2004 to 2008, researchers produced four times more scientific papers on agriculture than between 1999 and 2003.
China's world share of publications in agricultural science also grew from 1.5 per cent to 5 per cent over the same period, according to the report, which is based on data found in Web of Science, the world's largest database of scholarly literature.
That contribution is likely to continue to rise rapidly because of the country's large population and attendant food demands.
In comparison, materials science — China's largest research field — now accounts for more than a fifth of world publications in that field, said the report.
Lin Min, director of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Biotechnology Research Center, attributes China's agricultural rise to "rich research resources, constant governmental investment and support, and an expanding pool of world-class talents".
In 1999, China spent only 0.23 per cent of its agricultural GDP on agricultural research and development. This percentage increased to 0.8 in 2008 and, according to statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, is now approaching the one per cent recommended by the World Bank for developing countries.
Lin says having abundant agricultural research resources, such as crop species and genes, are crucial for driving the rapid growth in agricultural science, especially in biotechnology:"Otherwise you could only conduct model research rather than application research. "
But the return of an increasing number of overseas-trained and world-class Chinese agricultural scientists is also helping, says Lin.
They are lured back by China's rapid economic development and attractive job offers. "At the same time, China’s home-grown agricultural researchers are also catching up quickly," Lin adds .
Flickr/Harry Taiwan / Harry Huang Photography
农业成为中国增长最快的研究领域
北京] 本月发表的一篇研究报告表明，农业科学是当前中国研究领域里发展最为迅猛的学科。
“汤森路透”集团发表于１１月２日的《世界研究报告：中国》称，中国在１９９９年到２００８年间农业科学论文的增长超过其他任何学科。中国的研究人员在２００４年到２００８年五年间发表的关于农业的论文总数是前五年（１９９９－２００３）间发表论文总数的四倍。
该报告显示，同一时期内中国农业科学方面的论文在全世界同类论文总数的比重也从１.５％上升到５％。这个报告应用的数据来源于科学网（Web of Science）,也就是世界最大的学科论文数据库。
考虑到该国的庞大人口和随之增加的粮食需求，该报告预计中国在农业方面研究的贡献很有可能迅速扩大。
相比之下，同一份报告显示材料科学已经成为中国最强大的研究领域。中国在该领域发表的论文数超过全世界同类论文总数的四分之一。
中国农业科学院生物科技研究中心主任林敏把中国在农业科学领域的迅速崛起归功于“丰富的研究资源，政府持续不断的投资与支持，以及日益庞大的世界级研究队伍”。
根据中国农业部提供的数据，１９９９年中国用于农业研究和发展的资金只占其农业生产总值的０.２３％。到２００８年的时候，这个数字上升到了０.８％，今年则接近世界银行建议发展中国家应该达到的１％的标准。
林说，中国拥有丰富的农业研究资源，例如作物品种和基因。这对农业科学——尤其是农业生物科技——的快速发展至关重要。“否则你只能进行模式研究，而不能进行应用研究。”林说。
林说，最近几年，一大批海外华人农业科学家被中国快速的经济发展和极具竞争力的工作机会所吸引而陆续回国，这对于促进中国农业研究也是有所帮助的。
“同时，中国国内本土成长起来的农业研究人员也成长起来了。”林补充说。
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