Research Fronts 2022: Active Fields, Leading Countries published

The reports Research Fronts 2022 and Research Fronts 2022: Active Fields, Leading Countries were released by the Institutes of Science and Development at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the National Science Library at the CAS and Clarivate, a global analyst, on Dec 27. 

Based on the 12,610 research frontiers shown by the Essential Science Indicators, Research Fronts 2022 selected and displayed 110 hot and 55 emerging fronts that are active and fast-growing in 11 highly-integrated disciplines, namely, agricultural, plant and animal sciences, ecology and environmental sciences, geosciences, clinical medicine, biological sciences, chemistry and materials science, physics, astronomy and astrophysics, mathematics, and information science, as well as economics, psychology and other social sciences. The report reflects the development trends of relevant disciplines.

On the basis of Research Fronts 2022, Research Fronts 2022: Active Fields, Leading Countries evaluated the performance of China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan and other countries in the above-mentioned research fronts. 

In terms of each country's general performance in the 11 research fields, the US remains the most active, followed by China. The UK and Germany rank third and fourth, and France ranks fifth, lagging far behind the top four. The data in respective research fields show that China ranks first in the four fields of agricultural, plant and animal sciences, ecology and environmental sciences, chemistry and material science, and physics, while clinical medicine and astronomy and astrophysics are still the country's areas of weakness.

Research Fronts 2022 reflects eight trends in scientific research at the current stage: first, artificial intelligence has empowered various disciplines and created new paradigms for scientific research; second, major challenges brought by the COVID-19 have driven scientific studies in many disciplines; third, major breakthroughs in earth science remain the main sci-tech support for energy security over a period of time; fourth, solutions to food security and health issues require an open scientific project in basic research on genome technology; fifth, exploration in the macrocosm and habitable earth has revealed a unified picture of the earth system; sixth, deep space exploration and micro regulation continue to expand the boundaries of the knowledge system in material science; seventh, mathematical research has solved puzzles of the century and broken bottlenecks of mathematical logic in multiple fields; and eighth, complicated frontier issues that challenged the limits of human cognition are increasingly breaking the bounds of research in natural, engineering and social sciences, according to Pan Jiaofeng, president of the CAS Institutes of Science and Development. 

Gao Hongjun, vice-president of the CAS and a CAS academician, said that as one of China's first high-end think tank pilots, the CAS has always gathered outstanding scientists, played an active part in academic guidance, consultation and evaluation, and adhered to its responsibilities and missions. The academy has focused on the overall and long-term issues of the development of scientific and technological innovation, grasped the general trends of sci-tech development and technological revolution, and conducted a series of forward-looking strategic research projects targeting practical issues.

The academy is playing an increasingly important part in serving scientific decision-making, solving governance problems, and improving the innovation system, Gao said.

Under profound changes unseen in a century and a new round of science and technology revolution and industrial transformation, openness and cooperation are more essential in solving key global issues and in addressing the challenges of the times, Gao said. 

The CAS will give full play to its role as the main force of national strategic science and technology power and a national high-level sci-tech think tank, and strengthen research on sci-tech strategies as well as support for acceleration of the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, Gao added.

The release of Research Fronts 2022 marks an important step taken by the CAS to bring into full play its function as a national high-end science and technology think tank and to grasp the general trends of world science and technology development.

The research team of the CAS Institutes of Science and Development has joined hands with Clarivate since 2014 and released Research Fronts reports annually to its global audience, garnering positive feedbacks at home and abroad. 

With the continuous improvement of its influence, the report has attracted wide media coverage, become a brand achievement of the CAS National High-end Science and Technology Think Tank and served policymakers and professionals.