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There was a report by the Scientific American a few years ago that the growth in the field of science is slower in the United States than in the European Union. This conclusion was based on the number of per capita scientific publications. The issue noted that this number was declining in the US and improving in the EU. At the time the study was conducted, at least six countries in the world were ahead of America. Today, America stands at the twelfth place in the world.

There is a dramatic fall in the number of papers published by the United States, says a top science journal Physical Review says Fareed Zakaria from Newsweek. In fact, the fall is quite significant. The year 2003 saw a figure of 29% as compared to 61% in 1985. This decline is contributed to predominantly by China which publishes at least 1000 papers every year.

Awe inspiring growth in the field of scientific research is evident in China, says the Financial Times. If it continues at this pace, China will certainly overtake America by the year 2020. A fact to be noted here is not many US universities; especially those that are ranked below the first tier submit papers for publishing.

Faculty further has been discouraged from scholarly activity by the Legislature instituted salary raise policy across-the-board. Interestingly, in Southeast Asia and Europe, the promotions, salary and tenure of faculty depends on their publication counts.

It is in the interest of our country that universities encourage the faculty, especially those who write monographs and text books to conduct and publish research papers. We must learn from countries such as Netherlands where the Delft University actually allocates funds for the science departments based entirely on the number of scientific publications published by them. Funds also depend on where the papers are published.

Frank Brogan, the Chancellor of Florida State University System came up with a bright idea of enhancing from 70,000 to 100,000, the annual production “crop” of the university. He said the situation could be investigated and analyzed by a Board of Governors appointed state wide task force who will develop uniform standards state-wide for promotion and tenure. Universities will be ranked based on their scientific output.

Head of SAS, a private software group Jim Goodright says it is high time the West woke up from a deep slumber and faced the fact that in the field of scientific research, China leads to a great extent. It is high time our country woke up and did something about this.

Sceptics feel that the issue is not about the number of publications by the mathematicians, engineers and scientists. It is about preparing the next generation in these fields by ensuring that the problem of declining rate of enrolment is addressed at the earliest.

This in turn will address the issue of engaging more and more workforce from other countries such as China and India where enrolment in the discipline of science, math and engineering is quite high.