UK research productivity second only to the USA, BIS survey reveals

UK research remains the most productive and efficient in the G8, a report published today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has found. 

Britain also continues to rank as second only in the world to the USA on leading scientific indicators, the International Benchmarking Study of UK Research Performance 2009 published by Evidence Ltd and commissioned by BIS has revealed. These included clinical sciences, health sciences, biological sciences, environmental, and social sciences.

Crucially during the current economic climate, the study revealed that the UK offers some of the best value for money ' the country ranks first among the G8
nations on the number of citations in relation to public R&D spend.

The report itself does not specifically refer to pharmaceutical research. However, The Pharma Letter asked the trade body, the Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, to comment on two extracts that are applicable:

' the UK's output share is 2nd behind the USA in clinical and health sciences; and
' on citations impact Britain is ahead of the USA in clinical sciences, health sciences and biological sciences.

'Fresh Proof' of UK's quality research, says ABPI

An ABPI spokesman responded: "This fresh research is proof positive of the standing and quality of scientific research in the UK and further demonstrates the need for the government to deliver against the recommendations set out in the blueprint published by the Office for Life Sciences in order to create a positive environment for the innovative, knowledge-based industries which will be the mainstays of the UK economy in the future."

Meantime, the Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Paulo Drayson, welcomed the report, which he said reflected the UK's unwavering focus on quality rather than quantity.

Lord Drayson said: "Once again, we have outperformed other nations in the G8 and secured our position as second in the world in scientific productivity. Supporting the science community and maintaining our excellent research base is critical to the UK's future economic growth and prosperity. This is why the government will invest a record level of almost £6 billion ($9.5 billion) in UK science and research by 2011."

The study also revealed a rise in the number of UK papers co-authored with researchers in other countries. These co-authored papers tend to be highly cited - international collaborations with the USA, Germany and France have an impact 50% higher than the UK research base average.
The government and others use the annual benchmark provided by the study to assess the UK's performance alongside the 25 world leading research economies - including the G8 nations, India and China. 

Other key findings from the analysis of papers and citations in 8000 of the world's leading scientific journals reveal that the UK:
* share of citations in science journals across the world is 12%, second only to the USA;
* increased its share of the most cited (or top 1%) of world papers from 13.4% last year to 14.4%;
* received a 'citation impact' - the average citation rate of a paper - which placed the UK second in the G8, ahead of the USA but behind Germany; and
* produced 8% of the world's scientific papers, third only to the USA and China.

The report also highlights a four-fold increase in the quantity of papers produced by China over the last decade - overtaking the UK. Although its citation count - which indicates the quality of the papers - has climbed to above 5%, the country remains significantly behind the established research economies including the UK. It is ranked sixth overall, ahead of Canada and Italy.

The excellence of Britain's researchers is further highlighted in the 2009 competition for European Research Council starting grants where UK institutions had the highest success rates with over 40 of the 237 successful proposals. The next best rate was France with 31.  These starting grants target promising research leaders of the future, providing support as they establish or consolidate their teams and begin conducting independent research in Europe.