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Basic research is overshadowed by applied research in China: a policy perspective

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Abstract

This paper demonstrates that basic research has been overshadowed by applied research in China for decades, from the perspective of S&T policy. The data involves 4,707 Chinese S&T policies during the period between 1949 and 2010, which are grouped into five phases, based on the process of S&T system reform in China. We also found that S&T policies in China are leaning more towards basic research, and the gap between basic research and applied research is shrinking.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers 71233005, 71173184, and 71203193) for financial support. We also thank Dr. Dazhi Cheng, Mr. Zhang Li, Ms. Ting Xia and anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Cui Huang & Jun Su

  2. Lab of Logistics Management and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

    Xiang Xie

  3. Department of Information Resource Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Jiang Li

Authors
  1. Cui Huang
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  2. Jun Su
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  3. Xiang Xie
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  4. Jiang Li
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Correspondence to Jiang Li.

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Huang, C., Su, J., Xie, X. et al. Basic research is overshadowed by applied research in China: a policy perspective. Scientometrics 99, 689–694 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1199-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1199-x

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