China News Service, Beijing, October 28 (Reporter Zhang Su) A recently released research result shows that from 2016 to 2025, a total of more than 3.86 million articles were published in the field of materials disciplines around the world. China's materials science is showing a shift from scale growth to high-quality development.
"Through systematic research on the global materials science landscape, hotspot evolution and innovation ecology, we not only see the development achievements of China's materials science, but also more clearly understand the future development direction in terms of original breakthroughs, cross-innovation and industrial collaboration." said Dai Qing, dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
"Shanghai Jiao Tong University Materials Development Blue Book for a Century" was jointly released by Elsevier and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Based on the scientific research information databases Scopus and Scival, combined with Shanghai Jiao Tong University's major engineering cases and industry-university-research results, the writing team systematically presents the development trend in the field of materials science through global scientific research benchmarking, research hotspots and advantageous research direction analysis, and industrial transformation research.
The Blue Book states that from 2016 to 2025, in the field of materials disciplines, the global annual publication volume will increase from more than 290,000 articles in 2016 to more than 460,000 articles in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%. Mainland China ranks first in the world with more than 1.51 million articles published, with a CAGR of 10.9%, showing strong growth momentum in scientific research output.
Data show that the normalized citation impact (FWCI index) of mainland China's materials science publications in the past ten years is 1.18, second only to the United States among the top five most productive countries in this field. The proportion of the top 10% of highly cited papers is 19.0%, ranking first among major scientific research output countries and regions, indicating that its ability to produce high-level scientific research results is at the forefront of the world.
The blue book also stated that the industry-university cooperation rate in the field of materials science in mainland China has increased from 3.8% in 2016 to 7.3% in 2025, and the application orientation has been continuously strengthened; the patent citation rate of papers has also reached 8.6%, reflecting the increasing ability to transform scientific research results into technological innovation and industrial applications.
In this process, universities have become an important part of the innovation chain. The blue book shows that in the past ten years, the patent citation rate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's materials discipline has reached 9.6%, and the industry-university cooperation rate has reached 7.2%. Relevant research results have been applied to major national science and technology projects such as the C919 aircraft, the space station, the Beidou-3 navigation system, the Chang'e lunar exploration project, and the Tianwen fire detection project, providing support for key technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading.
In addition, the Blue Book conducts a systematic analysis of the evolution of global materials research hotspots. Data shows that advanced structural materials, new energy materials, flexible electronics and intelligent sensing continue to receive widespread attention.
Looking at the long term, the blue book states that China's materials science has become one of the most active scientific research forces in the world. The key to future development is to further enhance its original innovation capabilities and key technology breakthrough capabilities, and achieve a leap from scale advantage to original leadership. (over)
