From 2008 to October, Chinese scientists published more than 2.27 million international papers, second only to the 3.9 million published by US scientists during the same period, according to the 2018 edition of Statistical Data of Chinese Science and Technology Papers.

Last year, the country's scientists moved into second place, behind the US, in two fields new to them－Earth science and plant and animal science. In all, China ranks second globally in 10 fields, with the others being: agricultural science; chemistry; computer science; engineering; environmental science; mathematics; physics; and pharmaceuticals.