Taiwan Research Report 2011

Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1
Research and Collaboration in Taiwan.......................................................................... 3
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V

Methodology ............................................................................................... 3
Research Productivity and Impacts ............................................................... 5
Performance by Fields of Research ............................................................... 9
Benchmarking against Leading Scientific Nations and Six Asian Nations ..... 11
Main Collaborating Countries and Institutions ........................................... 24

Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 26

II

Introduction
The onset of the knowledge economy
has led to a gradual shift in the
Taiwanese governments S&T policy

industrial innovation, the government

has implemented the national-scale
Technology Development Programs

from the efficiency-driven approach,

which focuses on steady growth of
existing technologies towards the
innovation-driven approach, which

(TDPs) for effective coordination of R&D

resources in resolving major social
problems and issues that Taiwanese
citizens face in their basic living needs.

emphasizes on the development of new

technologies. With the
innovation-driven approach, Taiwan has

Since 2010, six major TDPs have been

launched in networking and
communications, smart electronics

been devoted to integrating various

resources and establishing a

systems, nanotechnology, energy,

biomedicine, and digital collections and

comprehensive knowledge base for its

development needs in innovation
exploration. This is different from the
bottom-up model driven by dispersing

digital learning. Among them, the

National Biomedicine Technology
Development Program is made to
integrate resources of two previous

resources in the past but needs a

top-down approach directed by
government to develop innovative
growth strategies.

national programs and coordinate with

the new launched Diamond Action Plan
for Biotech Take off. Based on the
achievements of the previous program
for System on Chip (SoC) Development,

The Taiwanese government envisions

the country to be a world leader in
green technology and smart lifestyles
by 2020, according to the R.O.C. White

the National Program for Intelligent

Electronics (NPIE) is developed to
promote Taiwans R&D capabilities in
the fields of automotive electronics,

Paper on Science and Technology

(2011 2014). The main strategies
include actively identifying new
opportunities for Taiwan in economic
development, enhancing domestic

green energy electronics, and 3C

(Computing, Communications and
Consumer electronics), and lead
Taiwanese semiconductor industry
towards a greater focus on

demand and export performance of

Taiwanese products, and encouraging
private-sector investment to expand job
opportunities in Taiwan. To drive

cross-industry applications. The National

Science and Technology Program for
Energy is made to have effective use of
clean coal technology, carbon capture
1

and carbon storage, along with smart

power grid and meter reading

Taiwanese scholars and encourage them

to participate in international academic

technology in Taiwan. The specific goal

is to improve nuclear energy technology
and offshore wind power generation
technology to reduce at least 5% of the

organizations and activities; the later

program is made to identify key research
areas that Taiwan needs to focus on and
sponsor outstanding Taiwanese

overall national carbon dioxide

emissions by 2050.
In terms of basic scientific research
development, Taiwanese government

scientists to undertake research abroad

at the worlds leading research institutes
in these fields, Moreover, the NSC
encourages the establishment of
international research centers in Taiwan.

has been keen to implement the

Academic Summit Program, which
targets on research excellence and aims
to enable Taiwan to cultivate world-class

There are attempts to build up advanced

research facilities and attract eminent
researchers to undertake research in
Taiwan.

scholars in scientific fields within the

next ten years. To accelerate the talent
development of Taiwanese researchers,
the National Science Council (NSC) of
Taiwan implements several additional

This report is to examine Taiwans

academic capabilities and development
trends. It uses comprehensive, all-round
statistical data to demonstrate the

programs, such as Burnishing Program

and Dragon Gate program. The former
program aims to identify outstanding

foundations that Taiwan has built up in

terms of its R&D capabilities.

Research and Collaboration in Taiwan

I.

Methodology

The report is based on the databases

provided by Thomson Reuters, including
the Web of Science (WoS), National
Science Indicators (NSI), and Essential
Science Indicators (ESI). Thomson
Reuters indexes approximately 10,500
international scholarly journals, which
are classified into 22 fields (see Table 1)
and 249 subject categories. The
contents of these databases range over
180 countries, providing an extensive
source of various analysis indicators
used to explore the output status of
these subject categories (see Table 2).
The examination of these analytical data
help us better understand the academic
R&D capabilities in Taiwan, of the extent
to which scientific research in Taiwan is
on a par with other countries, and of the
state of collaboration among universities
and research institutions. Other
socioeconomic data related to Taiwan
are collected from the websites of the
Department of Statistics, Ministry of
Education, the Statistical Office,
Department of Health, and the
Directorate General of Budget,
Accounting and Statistics, Executive
Yuan.

Australia, Germany, and Canada, which

have produced significant quantities of
academic research papers. The
demographic data of these major
countries are sourced from the World
Bank website.
Table 1
The 22 Fields Used in this Report
Agricultural Sciences
Biology & Biochemistry
Chemistry
Clinical Medicine
Computer Science
Economics & Business
Engineering
Environment/Ecology
Geosciences
Immunology
Materials Science
Mathematics
Microbiology
Molecular Biology & Genetics
Multidisciplinary
Neuroscience & Behavior
Pharmacology & Toxicology
Physics
Plant & Animal Science
Psychiatry/Psychology
Social Sciences, general
Space Science

In addition, this report compares Taiwan

to India, China, South Korea, Japan and
Singapore (which are collectively
referred to as the Six Asian Nations),
as well as to the U.S., France, the U.K.,
3

Table 2
The Indicators Used in this Report
Indicator
Calculation Method
Number of papers

Proportion of highly
cited papers to all
academic papers by
a given country
(top 1% and top
5%)

The types of documents

include articles, reviews,
and notes.
The number of
highly-cited papers (i.e.
papers that are among the
top 1% or top 5% most
cited papers worldwide) is
divided by the total
number of papers by a
given country.

Activity Index (AI)

The ratio of the share of a

given field in the output of
a given country to the
share of the same field in
the world total output.

Relative
Specialization Index
(RSI)

RSI=

Relative Citation
Impact

The impact of papers from

a particular country in a
particular field is divided
by the average impact for
all papers in that field.

Number of
Co-authored Papers
(co-authorship
between two
countries or two
institutions)

The number of papers

co-authored by different
countries or by different
institutions. Each paper is
counted for once, no
matter how many authors
from the same country or
same institutions are
shown in that paper.

Significance
Denotes the academic output of individual countries
and individual research institutions
The number of highly-cited papers that a country
produces as a percentage of all academic papers
produced by that country can be taken to represent
that countrys ability to produce cutting-edge
research. Take the 5% level as an example. If the
value is greater than 5% for a given country, it is
indicated that that country produced high quality
research papers more than the world average. Use of
data for the top 1% of most highly cited papers
employs an even more rigorous definition of what
constitutes high-quality research.
The Activity Index (AI) indicates how active a given
country is in a particular academic field. A value
greater than1 indicates that the country has more
academic output in a particular field than the global
average; a value smaller than 1 indicates output in
that field lower than the global average.
The Relative Specialization Index (RSI) is used to
analyze the characteristics of the research
topology of individual countries. The RSI is a value
between 1 and 1. A RSI value of 0 indicates that the
share of all papers produced in that country that
relate to that particular field is exactly the same as
the global average. A RSI value greater than 0
indicates that that the research undertaken in that
country is more concentrated in that particular field
than is the case for the world as a whole; a RSI value
of less than 0 indicates that the research undertaken
in that country is less concentrated in that particular
field than is the case for the world as a whole.
The Relative Citation Impact shows that the impact
of a county in a given field relative to that of the
world. A value greater than 1 indicates that the
impact of the countrys research output in that field
is higher than the global average; a value of less than
1 indicates that the impact of the country is lower
than the global average in that field.
The number of co-authored papers shows the
intensity of research collaboration among countries
and among institutions. The higher the number of
co-authored papers, the greater the intensity of
research collaboration.

II. Research Productivity and Impacts

Taiwan has been making steady progress in academic research over the past three
decades. In 1981, only 537 academic papers were published by Taiwanese authors,
but by 2010, this figure has risen to over 23,000, which takes up 2.05% of the worlds
research output.
As the volume of publications included in the Thomson Reuters databases tends to
increase steadily over time, looking only at the absolute number of papers from a
given country may lead to an overestimation of that nations real research
performance. We, therefore, examine relative growth in the number of papers for a
country, taking 1991 as the baseline year, where the index equals 100. As Figure 1
shows, while Japan and the U.S. has remained more or less flat in the number of
papers, other countries, including South Korea, China, Singapore and India have all
seen significant growth in the volume.

Fig. 1 Volume of publications compared to 1991=100

In the early 1990s, Taiwan produced only a few thousand academic papers a year. By
2001, this figure had risen to over 10,000 papers a year and had climbed to over
20,000 by 2008 (see Table 3). Although the number is still lagged behind that of other
developed nations, the ongoing increase in the volume shows a continuing rise in
Taiwans research capability.

Table 3
Volume of annual publications by country, 1991 2010
Taiwan

China

India

Japan Singapore

South
Korea

Australia Canada France

Germany

UK

USA

1991

3,281

8,736

15,150

47,215

850

1,932

13,632

29,702

33,306

46,079

50,414

230,759

1992

4,310

10,330

15,291

53,179

1,158

2,480

14,654

31,731

36,465

48,225

54,500

238,745

1993

4,892

11,511

15,386

53,474

1,384

3,138

15,292

31,892

37,545

48,393

55,406

240,249

1994

6,115

13,078

15,752

58,528

1,647

4,367

16,819

33,822

41,448

53,618

61,411

257,816

1995

7,002

15,671

15,967

62,157

2,016

6,061

18,551

34,742

43,705

56,469

64,279

267,395

1996

7,861

18,267

16,101

65,441

2,028

7,553

19,104

34,623

45,219

59,546

67,202

264,797

1997

8,126

20,140

15,398

65,686

2,390

8,759

19,601

33,248

45,822

62,187

65,016

260,191

1998

8,957

22,074

16,503

70,694

2,666

10,732

20,963

33,109

48,550

67,225

69,036

256,408

1999

9,423

26,649

17,669

72,466

3,249

12,175

21,738

34,095

49,249

67,127

70,406

257,359

2000

9,652

30,031

16,538

72,029

3,634

13,448

21,386

33,649

48,065

67,272

71,775

255,099

2001

11,150

34,216

18,157

74,471

4,087

15,881

22,070

33,712

49,396

69,181

71,161

262,000

2002

11,407

39,446

19,119

73,374

4,531

17,073

22,317

34,235

47,653

67,505

68,813

259,410

2003

13,128

47,998

21,487

80,521

5,225

21,088

24,790

38,566

52,733

73,106

75,012

283,333

2004

13,640

54,904

21,600

73,459

5,516

22,674

24,251

37,686

48,877

69,270

71,915

271,963

2005

16,765

73,481

26,093

80,538

6,648

27,766

28,289

44,786

56,120

79,094

80,794

307,247

2006

17,963

83,167

27,780

76,623

6,874

28,382

29,303

45,913

54,784

77,396

80,224

305,325

2007

18,746

90,206

29,804

73,793

6,602

27,362

29,522

46,372

53,581

75,870

81,125

300,213

2008

22,636

113,102

38,778

79,594

7,746

35,448

36,542

52,776

63,627

86,486

89,685

335,720

2009

24,315

127,176

40,135

78,564

8,516

38,226

37,869

54,156

63,970

88,056

89,472

331,790

2010

23,715

134,697

40,711

72,607

8,811

39,397

38,753

53,519

62,324

86,978

90,004

330,339

Source: National Science Indicators on Diskette, Standard Version, 1981-2010

An increasing trend is shown in the analysis of research productivity in 5-year

windows from 1991 to 2010. As Figure 2 illustrates, Taiwan (along with Singapore,
South Korea and India) has continued to see steady growth, while Japan has tended
to fall off in recent years. China has posted dramatic growth in the most recent
five-year period. Figure 3 shows that over the past 20 years the average growth rate
for Taiwan has been in excess of 11%, higher than the figures for Asia as a whole
(7.49%), the European Union (3.97%), and the world as a whole (3.66%). There has
thus been a gradual, steady increase in the prominence of Taiwanese academic
research on the global stage.

Fig. 2 Volume of publications by country and region in 5-year windows, 1991 2010

Fig. 3 Annual Growth Rate by country and region, 1991 2010

Taiwans research productivity is rather outstanding if a countrys demographic scale
is taken into consideration in the analysis. In 2010, Taiwan had a total population of
approximately 23.16 million people, and produced a total of 23,715 academic papers,
indicating an average output of 1,024 papers per million people. The figure is higher
than that of South Korea (788), Japan (570) and China (93). See Figure 4. From 2006
to 2010, Taiwan has achieved 32% growth rate in the number of papers, while there
are only less than 2% growth in population. The increase in Taiwans productivity is
thus largely attributable to an increase in the average number of papers produced
per person, rather than to the population size. Taiwan scores an upward trend by an
7

annual growth rate of 7.8% in average, on a par with Singapore but higher than the
U.S. (1.24%). Both Taiwan and Singapore can fairly claim to be bona fide Asian
knowledge economies.

Fig. 4

Published papers per population, 2006-2010

In the analysis of top level research, it is indicated that Taiwan held a relatively small
share of highly cited papers, compared to other Asian countries. As Figures 5 shows,
Taiwan lagged behind Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, over the periods of
1996-2000 and 2001-2005, although it exceeded South Korea in 2006-2010, in terms
of top 5% highly cited papers. A similar finding is also observed in Figure 6. Taiwan did
not have outstanding performance in the share of top 1% highly cited papers, yet it
remains growing the number throughout the periods.

Fig. 5/6 The share of top 5 and top 1% highly cited papers for the Six Asian Nations,
1991-2010
8

III. Performance by Fields of Research

In order to develop an in-depth picture of Taiwans research focuses, this report
employs the Relative Specialization Index (RSI) to analyze the countrys research
output from 2006 to 2010. According to Glanzel (2000), four basic patterns in
research profile can be identified with the analysis of RSI:
Type 1: Western Model, which is the characteristic pattern of European and North
American countries, with a concentration on clinical medicine and biomedical
research;
Type 2: Characteristic pattern of former socialist economies in transition (such as
China), with a concentration on physics and chemistry;
Type 3: Bioenvironmental Model, which is commonly seen in developing nations and
countries that are heavily dependent on their natural resources (including Australia
and South Africa), where there is a concentration on biology, earth sciences, and
space sciences;
Type 4: Japanese Model, a model which is typical not only of Japan but also for other
developed Asian economies, with a concentration on engineering and chemistry.
Figure 7 shows that Taiwan is relatively concentrated in computer science (0.41),
engineering (0.39), materials science (0.21), physics (0.13), and economics (0.11),
over the past year of 2006-2010. With the focus on engineering and
engineering-related fields, Taiwans publication profile can be identified as the Type 4
in Glanzels classification scheme. It is also found that Taiwan has remarkable research
performance in the field of economics & business. The share of Taiwans total output
in economics & business is higher than the global average.

Fig. 7

RSI by fields for Taiwan, 2006-2010

9

Table 4 shows the top ten fields where Taiwan accounted for the largest shares
of publications in the world from 2006 to 2010. As it presents, Taiwan is strong in
engineering, and natural sciences, with the world ranking at 9th place in computer
science and in engineering, and 10th place in materials science. The high performance
in these fields is closely linked to the impressive development of the information and
communications technology (ICT) sector in Taiwan. In the comparison between the
periods of 2001-2005 and 2006-2010, the rapid growth rates of 191.01% and 180.67%
are found in economics & business, and social science, respectively. In natural
sciences, Taiwan has maintained a steady, respectable performance in both physics
and chemistry, where it ranks 13th and 16th in the world.
Table 4
Top ten fields for Taiwan with largest shares of publications in the world
Subject Areas

Computer science
Engineering
Materials science
Economics & business
Physics
Social sciences
Pharmacology &
toxicology
Chemistry
Physics
Clinical medicine
All fields

2001-2005
No. of
Global
papers
Ranking
3,544
11
12,054
10
4,812
13
779
16
8,308
17
1,112
21
1,438
16

No. of
papers
6,126
20,995
7,796
2,267
12,928
3,121
1,959

2006-2010
Global
Share of
Ranking papers
9
4.76
9
4.53
10
3.07
11
2.48
13
2.6
14
1.21
15
1.86

Growth
Rate (%)
72.86
74.17
62.01
191.01
55.61
180.67
36.23

8,493
1,410
12,158
66,090

11,259
2,389
18,768
107,375

16
17
18
16

32.57
69.43
54.37
62.47

16
19
18
18

10

1.78
1.58
1.65
1.99

IV. Benchmarking against Leading Scientific Nations and Six Asian

Nations
This section benchmarks Taiwan against leading scientific nations by the indicator of
share of a countrys research output by fields. Generally Asian countries are strong in
engineering, clinical medicine, physics, chemistry, and materials science. Table 5
shows the share of a countrys research output by subject fields in the Six Asian
Nations from 2006 to2010. Taiwan focuses on the research of engineering (19.55%),
clinical medicine (17.48%), physics (12.04%) and chemistry (10.49%), aggregating
59.56% of the total of 107,375 papers in these four fields. China produced a total of
538,348 papers and 48.9% among them are related to chemistry (22.07%), physics
(15.29%) and engineering (11.54%). Of the 177,208 papers produced by India, 54.91%
of them are in chemistry (21.96%), physics (11.58%), clinical medicine (10.88%), and
engineering (10.49%). Japan concentrated in clinical medicine (20.98%), chemistry
(13.90%) and physics (13.79%), which aggregately account for 48.67% of its total of
381,181 papers. Singapore emphasizes on engineering (17.84%), clinical medicine
(15.48%), physics (14.35%) and chemistry (12.15%), accounted for 59.82% a total of
38,549 papers. Similarly South Korea focuses on clinical medicine (16.74%), physics
(13.66%), engineering (13.53%) and chemistry (12.99%), which together accounted
for 56.92% of its total of 168,815 papers during the period.
Table 5
The share of a countrys research output by fields, 2006-2010
Field
Total Publications
Engineering
Clinical Medicine
Physics
Chemistry
Materials Science
Computer Science
Biology & Biochemistry
Social Sciences, general
Plant & Animal Science
Mathematics
Economics & Business
Geosciences
Environment/Ecology
Pharmacology &
Toxicology
Molecular Biology &
Genetics
Agricultural Sciences
Neuroscience & Behavior
Psychiatry/Psychology
Microbiology
Space Science
Immunology
Multidisciplinary

Taiwan
107,375
19.55%
17.48%
12.04%
10.49%
7.26%
5.71%
3.70%
2.91%
2.53%
2.22%
2.11%
1.96%
1.88%

China
548,348
11.54%
8.56%
15.29%
22.07%
10.76%
2.86%
4.07%
1.02%
3.64%
4.12%
0.66%
3.25%
2.47%

India
177,208
10.49%
10.88%
11.58%
21.96%
8.01%
1.53%
5.49%
1.04%
6.54%
1.82%
0.41%
3.11%
2.74%

Japan
381,181
8.11%
20.98%
13.79%
13.90%
6.30%
1.76%
7.09%
0.69%
5.18%
1.91%
0.54%
2.54%
1.56%

Singapore
38,549
17.84%
15.48%
14.35%
12.15%
7.92%
5.52%
4.31%
3.47%
1.73%
2.01%
2.76%
0.58%
1.24%

South Korea
168,815
13.53%
16.74%
13.66%
12.99%
9.11%
4.70%
5.24%
1.61%
3.22%
2.12%
1.01%
1.31%
1.46%

1.82%

1.77%

3.25%

2.78%

1.50%

2.86%

1.60%

1.86%

1.51%

3.27%

3.48%

2.09%

1.57%
1.40%
1.18%
1.01%
0.77%
0.76%
0.05%

1.49%
1.30%
0.43%
1.15%
0.87%
0.62%
0.18%

4.10%
0.97%
0.27%
2.11%
1.15%
0.67%
0.38%

1.69%
2.97%
0.64%
1.83%
1.23%
1.17%
0.08%

0.49%
1.49%
1.43%
1.36%
0.04%
0.79%
0.08%

2.28%
1.68%
0.52%
2.32%
0.74%
0.74%
0.06%

11

Relative citation impact

This section benchmarks Taiwan against leading scientific nations by the indicator of
Relative Citation Impact (RCI). It is addressed to examine the level of impact that
Taiwan is able to exert through its academic research, compared to the global average.
Figure 8 illustrates the RCI for Taiwan and the selected countries over the five-year
period of 2006-2010; the red line denotes the global average. It shows that generally
the giant countries including the U.S. (1.46), the U.K. (1.42), Germany (1.33), Canada
(1.28), France (1.23) and Australia (1.19) have a significantly higher level of impact
than the Asian nations. Singapore (1.07) and Japan (0.99) have the highest RCI values
among the six Asian Nations; Taiwan (0.72), South Korea (0.74) and China (0.70) are
approximately at the same level.

U.S.

U.K

German Canada France Australia Singapore Japan

South

Taiwan China

India

Korea
A.

Fig. 8
Note:

Relative citation impact by countries, 2006 2010 (Global average = 1)

Relative citation impact is calculated using field-normalized citation rates
(including self-citation). The arts & humanities field and multidisciplinary field
were excluded from the calculations due to the small number of papers.

Figure 9 indicates the changes of the RCI values for the six Asian Nations between
1991 and 2010. Overall, the RCI in these countries has tended to rise steadily over the
past twenty years. Among them, Japan has had the relative high RCI value of 0.99
close to the global average and been retaining steady growth trend. Singapore has
shown a significant increase of its RCI value from 0.69 in 2001-2005 to 1.07 in
.
2006-2010, bringing
Singapore as the only country with RCI value higher than the
global average during the investigated time periods. South Korea and Taiwan are
approximately at the same level in RCI, followed by China and India.

12

Relative citation impact

Fig. 9

Global average

China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations by periods, 1991-2010

This report zooms in the RCI values for Taiwan and the Six Asian Nations in 21 fields.

Relative citation impact

Agricultural Sciences

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 10 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Agricultural Sciences,
1991-2010
Almost all the selected Asian countries, except India, have the RCI values near or
more than the global average, and there is a general upward trend since 1991. See
Figure 10. Taiwan has reached the global average level since the period of 2001-2005,
and got an even higher RCI of 1.28 in the latest period of 2006-2010. China also made
a progress in the same period, while South Korea and Japan were relatively stable in
this field. Singapore shows a notable trend in RCI with the values higher than the
global average. This can be accounted for the nations small number of papers in
Agricultural Sciences. Singapore is characterized by its outstanding performance in
quality rather than quantity in this field.
13

Relative citation impact

Biology and Biochemistry

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 11 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Biology and Biochemistry,
1991-2010
Figure 11 indicates that among the six nations, Singapore and Japan plays a leading
role in biology and biochemistry. Singapore has the highest RCI values of 1.08 in the
period of 2006-2010, higher than the global average, while Japan has shown a steady
increase in this area, reaching to the level of 0.89 in the most current period. Taiwan,
similar with South Korea, had a RCI value of around 0.7 in this period. Overall, there
has been a steady rise in the quality of research by the six Asian nations in biology
and biochemistry.

Relative citation impact

Chemistry

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 12 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Chemistry, 1991-2010
Taiwan and South Korea got a similar RCI value of 0.9 in chemistry in the period of
2006-2010, as Figure 12 shows. The value is very close to the global average. Japan
and Singapore are the top two in this field Japan kept its leading position
throughout the first three periods, but was exceeded by Singapore with the value of
1.29 in 2006-2010. Relatively China and India have lower RCI than other countries, yet
show a significant growth trend over the investigated periods.
14

Relative citation impact

Clinical Medicine

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 13 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in the Clinical Medicine,
1991-2010
Over the past twenty years, the six Asian nations have low RCI values relative to the
global average in clinical medicine. Only Singapore exceeded the value of 1 in
2006-2010, while Japan consistently retain in the top in the first three periods. See
Figure 13. Taiwan shows a steady increase in the value and reached to 0.76 in the
latest period. Similar trend is observed in South Korea in this field.

Relative citation impact

Computer Science

Fig. 14

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Computer Science,
1991-2010

Taiwan has a significantly rising value of RCI in the computer science field in the
recent years. The value almost reached to the global average in 2006-2010, as it is
illustrated in Figure 14. Singapore has shown strong growth, with reaching to a
highest value of 1.02 among the six Asian nations in the most recent five-year period.
In the same period, China also showed a significant growth trend, with a rising value
of RCI to 0.79.
15

Relative citation impact

Economics & Business

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 15 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Economics & Business,
1991-2010
In economics & business, Singapore and China both showed a significant increase in
the value of RCI throughout the investigated periods. Although lagging behind China
in 2006-2000 and 2001-2005, Singapore exceeded China in 2006-2010 and presented
the highest RIC value among the six countries. See Figure 15. Taiwan had a gradual
growth trend, in spite of the dip in the period of 2001-2005. India and South Korea
had shown the decreasing value in the first and last three periods, respectively, yet
their RCI values were still higher than that of Taiwan.

Relative citation impact

Engineering

Fig. 16

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Engineering, 1991-2010

Of the six Asian nations, Singapore has displayed the most notable performance in the
field of engineering. Its RCI value rose above the global average in the period of
2001-2005, and reached 1.29 in 2006-2010. See Figure 16. An increasing pattern is
observed in all the investigated nations, except Japan. Taiwan, China and India
showed particularly pronounced growth, with the values approaching the global
average in the most recent five-year period.
16

Relative citation impact

Environment/Ecology

Fig. 17

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Environment/Ecology,

1991-2010

Singapore has displayed a significant growth rate in research in environment and

ecology. Its RCI has risen from 0.32 in the period of 1991-1995 to 1.29 in the period of
2006-2010. See Figure 17. Taiwan, China, and South Korea showed a relatively steady
pattern in this field. Japan grew modestly and remained its leading position among
the Asian countries.

Relative citation impact

Geosciences

Fig. 18

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Geosciences, 1991-2010

As Figure 18 shows, Taiwan exhibited the second highest RCI in geosciences,

surpassed only by Japan over the past decades. Its indicator value rose steadily to
reach 0.88 in the period of 2001-2005. South Korea, China, and Singapore are
relatively unstable in this field. The values fluctuated over time.

17

Relative citation impact

Immunology

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 19 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Immunology, 1991-2010
Among the six Asian nations, Japan has the highest RCI value in immunology
throughout the investigated periods. It has reached above the global average since
the period of 2001-2005, as Figure 19 shows. Singapore posted dramtic growth from
0.49 to 0.96 between the most recent two periods. South Korea made significatnt
progress as well. It held the smallest RCI value among the six countries in the
beginning but went into top three countries in the later period. On the contrary,
Taiwan showed a decreasing pattern in this field.

Relative citation impact

Materials Science

Fig. 20

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Materials Science,
1991-2010

Generally Asian countries had outstanding performance in the field of materials

science, with most of the six having RCI values of around or above 0.8 over the resent
two periods of time. As Figure 20 shows, Singapore exhabited very dramatical growth
in this area. Taiwan and South Korea have similar growth trend and almost reach the
global average in the latest years.
18

Relative citation impact

Mathematics

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 21 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Mathematics, 1991-2010
Figure 21 indicates that Taiwan has shown a stead increases of its research impact in
mathematics. In the preiod of 2006-2010, Taiwan alsmost reached the global average
in RCI, only behind Signapore and China among the Six Asian Nations. Meanwhile,
Singapore showed a small dip inspite of its great strides among the first three periods.

Relative citation impact

Microbiology

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 22 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Microbiology, 1991-2010
Sinapore held a leading postion in reserch impact among the peer Asian nations in
microbiology. While it has remained the RCI value of over 0.8 (except in the period of
1996-2000), other countries including Japan, Taiwan, and China presented the RCI
values between 0.6 and 0.8. South Korea has posted strong growth in this field. It had
a small RCI value lower than 0.2 in the period of 1991-1995 but then increased the
value to near 0.6 in the period of 2006-2010.

19

Relative citation impact

Molecular Biology & Genetics

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 23 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Molecular Biology &
Genetics, 1991-2010
Except Singapore, all of the Asian nations held a RCI value below the global average in
molecular biology and genetics throughout the periods. See Figure 23. Singapore
showed the value of 1.32 in the period of 1996-2000, and remained the level of 1.17
in the most recent period. Japan exhibited the second highest values among the six
countries in this field and continues the growing trend over the decades. Taiwan and
China are similar not only in the feature of values but also in growth pattern.

Relative citation impact

Neuroscience & Behavior

Fig. 24

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Neuroscience &
Behavior, 1991-2010

Singapore and Japan have remarkable impact in the field of neuroscience & behavior,
as Figure 24 illustrates. Singapore had the RCI value of above the global average in the
most recent period, while Japan presented a steady increase in this indicator over the
periods. Taiwan and South Korea both had a relative citation impact of around 0.7 in
the period of 2006-2010.
20

Relative citation impact

Pharmacology &Toxicology

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 25 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Pharmacology &
Toxicology, 1991-2010
All of the six Asian nations have increased their impact in reasearch of pharmacology
& toxicology. Taiwan had the RCI value smaller than 0.6 in the period of 1991-1995
and then reached 0.8 by the period of 2006-2010. South Korea, China, and India all
presented a steady growth trend in the indicator. Singapore showed a dramatic
increase over the past decades. See Figure 25.

Relative citation impact

Physics

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 26 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Physics, 1991-2010
Among the Asian countries, Japan plays a leading role in physics, with relative high RCI
values. See Figure 26. For the rest of five countries, all of them have made great
progress in the past decases. Taiwan and China maintained a steady increase
throughout the periods, while South Korea and India showed a dip in the most recent
period.

21

Relative citation impact

Plant & Animal Science

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 27 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Plant & Animal Science,
1991-2010
Of the six Asian nations, Singapore and Japan performed the best in plant & animal
science. They both held the RCI values higher than the global average in the period of
2001-2006. In the same period, Taiwan, South Korea and China all received the values
close to the global average. Despite the dip in 1996-2000, China remains the level
similar to Taiwan and South Korea. See Figure 27.

Relative citation impact

Psychiatry/Psychology

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 28 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Psychiatry/Psychology,
1991-2010
The RCI of the six Asian nations in the field of psychiatry/psychology is as shown in
Figure 28. Until around 2000, both Taiwan and South Korea showed an increase in
their research impact in this field. Yet Taiwan failed to maintain its advantage and has
been seen the subsequent decrease of its RCI level. Meanwhile, South Korea has
remained at around the level of 0.8.

22

Relative citation impact

Social Sciences

Fig. 29

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Social Sciences,
1991-2010

Asian countries have relatively low impact on the worlds research in social science.
Except Singapore, none of the six Asian nations reached the value of the global
average in this field over the investigated periods, as Figure 29 indicates. Even so,
Taiwan, China, and India presented significant growth rate over time. Both Taiwan and
China achieved near to 0.8 in the indicator in the most recent period.

Relative citation impact

Space Science

Taiwan
China
India
Japan
Singapore
South Korea

Fig. 30 Relative Citation Impact for the Six Asian Nations in Space Science, 1991-2010
Among the six Asian nations, Japan has the highest research impact in space science.
It has steadily rising RCI values since the period of 1996-2000 and remained above the
global average for the past ten years. South Korea and Taiwan are both in the top
three countries, with the values at 0.93 and 0.83, respectively, in the most recent
period. See Figure 30.

23

Main Collaborating Countries and Institutions

Researchers in Taiwan tend to have frequent collaborations with colleagues from

high technology countries and neighboring countries. The most popular countries to
Taiwan are the U.S., Japan and China, followed by the U.K., Germany and Canada.
Over the last years, Taiwan has increased its connections with other Asian nations,
such as South Korea, China and India. The growing trend has been observed not only
in the number of co-authored papers between Taiwan and these Asian countries but
also in their share of Taiwans research outputs. See Table 6.
Table 6
Main Collaborating Countries for Taiwan
1996-2000

Rank

Country

2006-2010

No. of Co-authored % of Taiwans

Papers

Total Output

U.S.A.

5,395

11.34%

Japan

827

China

Country

No. of Co-authored % of Taiwans

Papers

Total Output

U.S.A.

13,297

11.05%

1.74%

China

4,524

3.76%

682

1.43%

Japan

3,348

2.78%

Germany

481

1.01%

U.K.

1,770

1.47%

Canada

441

0.93%

Germany

1,681

1.40%

U.K.

391

0.82%

Canada

1,517

1.26%

France

304

0.64%

South Korea

1,495

1.24%

Italy

274

0.58%

India

1,287

1.07%

South Korea

268

0.56%

Australia

1,276

1.06%

10

Switzerland

241

0.51%

France

1,259

1.05%

11

Russia

239

0.50%

Russia

1,035

0.86%

12

Australia

232

0.49%

Italy

839

0.70%

13

India

218

0.46%

Switzerland

823

0.68%

14

Singapore

169

0.36%

Singapore

737

0.61%

Table 7 shows the academic institutions with which Taiwan collaborates most
frequently between 1996 and 2000. Among them, U.S. universities including the
University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Illinois, Harvard University
and Johns Hopkins University are most popular collaborating institutions to Taiwan.
24

They remained in the top 10 collaborating institutions for Taiwan over the
investigated periods of 1996-2000 and 2006-2010. Nevertheless, an increase of
collaborations can be seen between Taiwan and other Asian countries, such as China,
South Korea and Japan. It indicates the effects of shared cultural backgrounds and
similar interests of research focuses. The institution-level analysis indicates that the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Tokyo and Seoul National University
are the most popular Asian institutions for Taiwan in research collaboration.
Table 7
Taiwans Main Co-authoring Overseas Institutions for Academic Research Papers
1996-2000

2006-2010
No. of

Rank

Organization

Country Co-authored
Papers

% of total
Taiwan

Univ Michigan

USA

310

0.54%

Purdue Univ

USA

275

0.51%

Univ Illinois

USA

270

0.49%

MIT

USA

255

USA

5
6
7

UnivCalif
Los Angeles
Harvard Univ
Johns Hopkins
Univ

No. of
Organization

Country Co-authored
Papers

Chinese AcadSci

% of total
Taiwan

China

729

0.61%

USA

643

0.53%

Univ Illinois

USA

613

0.51%

0.48%

Univ Tokyo

Japan

597

0.50%

247

0.44%

Harvard Univ

USA

582

0.48%

USA

242

0.43%

Seoul NatlUniv

Korea

565

0.47%

USA

229

0.41%

Johns Hopkins Univ

USA

539

0.45%

UnivCalif
Los Angeles

IstNazlFisNucl

Italy

206

0.41%

Univ Michigan

USA

519

0.43%

Univ Bologna

Italy

193

0.41%

Ohio State Univ

USA

509

0.42%

10

Univ Wisconsin

USA

192

0.40%

SungkyunkwanUniv

Korea

494

0.41%

Source:

Web of Science

25

Conclusions
Over the past twenty years, Taiwan has made great progress in research output, with
an annual growth rate of over 11% in average. The value is higher than that for Asia
as a whole, the European Union, and the global average. Taiwan has thus shown its
success in establishing itself as a significant force in academic research. As of 2010,
Taiwan accounted for 2.05% of research output of the world, representing a figure of
1,024 papers per year for every million people in Taiwan, which is superior to South
Korea, Japan and China. With an emphasis on engineering and the natural sciences,
Taiwan continues its strengths in information and communications technology (ICT)
sector, pursuing a similar strategy that can be observed in other Asian countries.
Another finding worth to note is that Taiwan has showed its interest in economic
studies, with a higher value than the global average in the field. Overall, Taiwan is on
the track towards a high activity index and a high relative citation index in the
diagrams of all fields.
Taiwan frequently collaborates with advanced countries, such as the U.S., the U.K.,
Germany and Canada, and neighboring countries, such as Japan and China. There is a
trend that it has increasingly collaborated with Asian countries including China, South
Korea and India. Among the collaborating institutions within Asia, the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, the University of Tokyo and the Seoul National University are
the top three in terms of the number of co-authored papers with Taiwan. There are
relatively strong connections between Taiwan and these institutions in research.
To sum up, this report is made to provide a comprehensive overview of Taiwans
research performance in terms of the quantity and quality of research output. There
is an attempt to reveal Taiwans capabilities and strengths in research and provide an
alternative perspective for the government to develop a long-term strategy in R&D
and industrial investment. The government, industry, and academic institutions
should share the common aim of developing Taiwan to be a knowledge-centric
innovative economy.

26

References
Glnzel, W. (2000), Science in Scandinavia: A Bibliometric Approach. Scientometrics,
48 (2), p. 121-150.
National Science Council, Executive Yuan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), White Paper on
Science and Technology (2011 to 2014 editions)
REIST-2 (1997), The European Report on Science and Technology Indicators 1997.
Second Edition, EUR 17639. European Commission, Brussels.

27

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