Science Leader No More? China Challenges US Dominance

A part of the worldwide March for Science in Bellingham, Washington, on April 22, 2017.

Credit: Traci Hahn/Shutterstock The United States still leads the world in scientific research, at least in publishing the most biomedical studies in top-tier journals and spending the most money on research and development (R&D). But that might not be the case for long, a group of scientists claimed in an opinion piece published today (June 15) in the journal JCI Insight. America's dominance in the scientific world is slowly shrinking, the researchers found, largely because China has invested vast amounts of money in science over the past two decades. In 2015, China's biomedical research teams ranked No. 4 on the top 10 list for the total number of new discoveries published in six top-tier journals, the researchers said. In 2000, China didn't even make the top 10 on this list (coming in at 14), the researchers reported. [Best Supporting Role: 8 Celebs Who Promote Science]