A bibliometric study of China’s science and technology policies: 1949–2010

This paper uses a bibliometric analysis method to probe into the evolution of China’s science and technology policies from 1949 to 2010, and the roles of core government agencies in policy-making. We obtained 4,707 Chinese S&T policies from GDIS, a Chinese public policy database provided by Tsinghua University. Co-word analysis and network analysis were applied in mapping the topics of S&T policies and collaboration among the agencies, while citation analysis was applied to assess the influence of S&T policies. Findings include: first, the focus of Chinese S&T policies is mainly on applied research and industrialization, rather than basic research; second, more and more government agencies are involved in making S&T policies, but collaboration efforts are not significantly increasing; last but not least, the influence of different S&T policies is determined by the administrative ranking of the policy-making agencies responsible for drafting those policies.

[1]  Jiang Li,et al.  Abstracting the core subnet of weighted networks based on link strengths , 2014, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[2]  Clement A. Tisdell,et al.  China’s reformed science and technology system: an overview and assessment1 , 2004 .

[3]  Xin Fang.  Re‐examining the reform of China's science and technology system: a historical perspective , 2010 .

[4]  Ben R. Martin,et al.  Bibliometric analysis for science policy: An evaluation of the United Kingdom's research performance in ocean currents and protein crystallography , 2005, Scientometrics.

[5]  Justin Yifu Lin,et al.  Food Availability, Entitlements and the Chinese Famine of 1959–61 , 2000 .

[6]  Jean Pierre Courtial,et al.  Co-word analysis as a tool for describing the network of interactions between basic and technological research: The case of polymer chemsitry , 1991, Scientometrics.

[7]  Zhong Xiwei,et al.  Science and technology policy reform and its impact on China's national innovation system , 2007 .

[8]  John Scott.  Social Network Analysis , 1988 .

[9]  Mark Newman,et al.  Networks: An Introduction , 2010 .

[10]  D. Hicks.  Limitations of Co-Citation Analysis as a Tool for Science Policy , 1987 .

[11]  Borges Gouveia,et al.  Organization, Programme and Structure: An Analysis of the Chinese Innovation Policy Framework , 2004 .

[12]  M. Callon,et al.  From translations to problematic networks: An introduction to co-word analysis , 1983 .

[13]  Jiang Li,et al.  Basic research is overshadowed by applied research in China: a policy perspective , 2013, Scientometrics.

[14]  J. J. Moré,et al.  Estimation of sparse jacobian matrices and graph coloring problems , 1983 .

[15]  Q. Y. Yu.  The Implementation of China's Science and Technology Policy , 1999 .

[16]  魏屹东,et al.  Scientometrics , 2018, Encyclopedia of Big Data.

[17]  Gobinda G. Chowdhury,et al.  Bibliometric cartography of information retrieval research by using co-word analysis , 2001, Inf. Process. Manag..

[18]  Ron Johnston,et al.  CO-CITATION BIBLIOMETRIC MODELING AS A TOOL FOR S&T POLICY AND R&D MANAGEMENT: ISSUES, APPLICATIONS, AND DEVELOPMENTS , 1988 .

[19]  Ang Li,et al.  Research on the semantic-based co-word analysis , 2011, Scientometrics.

[20]  Koenraad Debackere,et al.  Using a bibliometric approach to support research policy making: The case of the Flemish BOF-key , 2004, Scientometrics.

[21]  Jean Pierre Courtial,et al.  A coword analysis of scientometrics , 1994, Scientometrics.

[22]  J. E. Hirsch,et al.  An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output , 2005, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.

[23]  K. Smith,et al.  Use of bibliometric modelling for policy making , 2005, Math. Comput. Simul..

[24]  Neal S. Coulter,et al.  Software Engineering as Seen through Its Research Literature: A Study in Co-Word Analysis , 1998, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[25]  Oscar N. Ventura,et al.  Use of bibliometric information to assist research policy making. A comparison of publication and citation profiles of Full and Associate Professors at a School of Chemistry in Uruguay , 2006, Scientometrics.