I’ve written numerous times about the power that comes when nations are able to attract immigrants from overseas, especially when those immigrants are highly skilled. Alas, recent protectionist, anti-immigrant rhetoric has made many western countries less appealing to migrants.
A good example of this comes from a recent study from Ohio State University, which highlights the growing number of Chinese scientists who are returning to China having previously worked in the United States, with the corresponding boost this provides to Chinese research productivity.
The study found that around 16,000 researchers have returned to China from overseas in the last few years, with 4,500 leaving the United States alone. That’s roughly twice the number who were leaving per year in 2010. It’s a trend that is helping to turn China into a true scientific powerhouse.
Scientific power
“In our lifetime, China has joined the global scientific community to become world-class in a number of critical fields, such as AI and materials science,” the researchers say. “As more of their researchers return home, that rise is going to continue.”
The researchers assessed data from the Elsevier database to explore the publications researchers were making in scientific journals. They were particularly interested in the career paths of Chinese researchers who had first published in China, before moving to another country, and alternatively who had first published in a foreign country before subsequently publishing in China.
The data suggests that the number of Chinese researchers moving to the US is greater than that of researchers moving to Europe. Equally, researchers were more likely to return home to China from Europe than they were the US.
“The most elite Chinese scientists are more likely to stay in the United States than go home – and that’s good for the United States,” the authors explain. “But increasingly, we found that people are going back. The U.S. has been lucky that many top scientists have stayed. But China has programs to attract them back to their homeland.”
Scientific value
The data highlights the value of these returning researchers, with around 12% of the published literature in China emanating from scientists who had previously worked in other countries. What’s more, the researchers believe this figure is likely to be much bigger.
Perhaps more importantly, those papers were also of a higher quality than those from researchers who had not worked overseas, with the impact considerably higher.
“Once they go home, those who worked elsewhere are more productive at the international level than people who stayed in China,” the authors explain.
One evident reason behind this is the important role foreign-based collaborators play in the most impactful research. I’ve written previously about research showing the importance of cross-country collaboration on scientific research, and the higher quality research that emerges when this occurs.
Indeed, this international collaboration is arguably the main reason why the Chinese authorities are relaxed about researchers working overseas as it provides linkages with the global research community.
This is important, as while data has showed that Chinese research output is huge, and indeed was ranked second in the world in terms of total papers published per year, the quality has lagged behind other nations.
This process largely becomes self perpetuating, as the boost returning scientists provide to the local research scene makes it more attractive still to researchers from overseas.
“The U.S. has retained its dynamism in science and technology because excellent scientists from other countries come here,” the researchers state. “If we lose that attraction, if we discourage people from coming here, it will take a toll on the U.S. scientific system.”
Of course, while China has proven effective in attracting Chinese researchers back from overseas, it’s been much less effective at attracting overseas researchers to China, which is another potent way for boosting the research output of a nation.
