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Who Stands on the Shoulders of Chinese (Scientific) Giants? Evidence from Chemistry

Author

Listed:
  • Qiu, Shumin
  • Steinwender, Claudia
  • Azoulay, Pierre

Abstract

China’s rise in science has the potential to push forward the knowledge frontier, but mere production of knowledge does not guarantee that others are able to build on it. We ask whether chemistry research originating from China offers broad shoulders for follow-on scientists to stand on. We show that even after carefully controlling for the quality of Chinese research, Chinese scientists’ articles receive on average 28% fewer citations from US researchers, relative to scientists from other countries. Only Chinese researchers with unusually deep networks in the US can overcome, at least in part, the citation discount.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiu, Shumin & Steinwender, Claudia & Azoulay, Pierre, 2023. "Who Stands on the Shoulders of Chinese (Scientific) Giants? Evidence from Chemistry," CEPR Discussion Papers 17805, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:17805
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    2. Qiu, Shumin & Steinwender, Claudia & Azoulay, Pierre, 2025. "Paper tiger? Chinese science and home bias in citations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    3. Qianqian Xie & Alfredo Yegros-Yegros, 2025. "A quantitative assessment of potential benefits and challenges of international researcher mobility for home and host countries: evidence from the Chinese Scholarship Council programmes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(8), pages 4545-4572, August.
    4. Hoekman, Jarno & Rake, Bastian, 2024. "Geography of authorship: How geography shapes authorship attribution in big team science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    5. Boeing, Philipp & Mueller, Elisabeth, 2024. "Global influence of inventions and technology sovereignty," ZEW policy briefs 01/2024, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Yang, Xiaoliang & Zhou, Peng, 2025. "Unveiling citation bias in economics: Taste-based discrimination against Chinese-authored papers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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