U.K. Scientific Papers Rank First in Citations

British scientists have long taken pride in “punching above their weight,” as former U.K. science adviser David King once said, achieving a wide impact with a relatively modest use of public funds. Two reports out last week confirm that reputation. In the first of a planned biennial look at the international standing of British science, the U.K. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) released a citation analysis it commissioned from Elsevier, the scientific publishing company. The analysis, according to a BIS statement, found that the United Kingdom “attracts more citations per pound spent in overall research and development than any other country.” A similar analysis, independently produced by Thomson Reuters, supports that basic theme: Scientific papers from Britain have the greatest impact in the world when the six most prolific nations are ranked by average number of citations. The Thomson Reuters report says Britain produced 8% of the world’s research articles and reviews but 17% of the world’s research papers with more than 500 citations and 20% of those with more than 1000 citations.

            The U.K. performance surpasses even that of the United States, which has the world’s best-funded research system, according to Thomson Reuters, which examined trends from 1991 to 2010. Adjusting raw citation data to norms in each field and year of publication, analyst Jonathan Adams found that Britain crossed from second to first rank in 2007. Germany went from fourth place in 1991 to second place in 2010 (knocking the United States down to third place last year). France, Japan, and China follow.

The Thomson Reuters report says that the “rising trajectory” of U.K. research stands in contrast to the U.S. record, which “has at best plateaued in performance and—according to some estimates—is now in decline.” It traces the starting point of the U.K. rise to 1986, when Britain undertook a quality review known as the Research Assessment Exercise. Today, the report says, biological sciences are the strongest area of U.K. research, including “exceptionally high achievements in organismal biology, where the USA suffers.”

SOURCE : SCIENCE MAGAZINE VOL 334

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Global Demand Stresses Limited Supply

A mere few countries control worldwide production of many minerals that have become essential to high-tech manufacturing: europium for TV displays, neodymium for computer disk drives. And some countries, such as China, have begun hoarding the resources for their own companies.

What are they used for?

Platinum Group Metals	Platinum Palladium Rhodium Ruthenium Iridium Omium	Catalytic converters, electronics, chemical processing Catalytic converters, capacitors, carbon monoxide sensors Catalytic converters, chemical processing Electronic contacts and resistors, superalloys Spark plugs, alloys, chemical processing Electronic contacts, electron microscopy, surgical implants
Rare-Earth Elements	Scandium Yttrium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium	Aerospace components, aluminum alloys Lasers, TV and computer displays, microwave filters Oil refining, hybrid-car batteries, camera lenses Catalytic converters, oil refining, glass-lens production Aircraft engines, carbon arc lights Computer hard drives, cell phones, high-power magnets Portable x-ray machines, nuclear batteries High-power magnets, ethanol, PCB cleansers TV and computer displays, lasers, optical electronics Cancer therapy, MRI contrast agent Solid-state electronics, sonar systems Lasers, nuclear-reactor control rods, high-power magnets High-power magnets, lasers Fiber optics, nuclear-reactor control rods X-ray machines, superconductors Portable x-ray machines, lasers Chemical processing, LED lightbulbs
Other Critical Minerals	Indium Manganese Niobium	Liquid-crystal displays, semiconductors, solar thin films Iron and steel production, aluminum alloys Steel production, aerospace alloys

    As a result, industrial nations are becoming increasingly tense about their sources of “critical elements”—minerals that are crucial but whose supply could be restricted. Most critical for the U.S. are the six elements in the platinum group of metals, the 17 elements known as rare-earth elements, as well as indium, manganese and niobium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Which nations have them and how dependent the U.S. is (picture below) could affect the American economy and national security (in the case of military products) if trade is curtailed or new deposits are not found. 

SOURCE : SCIENCE MAGAZINE VOL 334

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