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Chinese universities: gear up for Nobels

Nature volume 515, page 492 (2014)Cite this article

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We agree with Jie Zhang that university reform is needed to improve the quality of Chinese research papers (Nature 514, 295–296; 2014). A home-grown scientist in China might then stand a chance of winning a Nobel prize for the first time.

Novelty in research remains rare: publications with a Chinese scientist as first or corresponding author accounted for just 362 papers in Nature and 388 in Science from 1992 to 2012. This is despite the government's increased investment in research during 2002–12 and its launching of talent schemes and large scientific programmes in past decades. China needs to recognize that Nobel prizes are awarded for scientific breakthroughs, not for short-term successes.

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  1. Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China

    Yi-Ping Chen, Yi-Shan Lin & Yi Zhang

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  1. Yi-Ping Chen
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  2. Yi-Shan Lin
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  3. Yi Zhang
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Correspondence to Yi-Ping Chen.

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Chen, YP., Lin, YS. & Zhang, Y. Chinese universities: gear up for Nobels. Nature 515, 492 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/515492e

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