China and other emerging nations such as Brazil and India are becoming leaders in science to rival traditional "scientific superpowers" like the United States, Europe and Japan, a top British academy said on Monday.
A report by the Royal Society science academy also found some rapidly emerging scientific nations not usually associated with a strong science base, including Iran, Tunisia and Turkey.
The report, entitled Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century, stressed the growing importance of international cooperation in the conduct and impact of science, and its ability to tackle global problems like energy security, climate change and loss of biodiversity.
"The landscape of science is changing. Science is increasing and new players are fast appearing," Chris Llewellyn Smith, chair of the advisory group for the study, told a briefing. "Beyond the emergence of China, we see the rise of Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, North African and other nations."
Llewellyn Smith said in the five years from 2002 to 2007, global spending on research and development (R&D) had risen by almost 45 percent -- broadly in line with rising economic growth -- but in developing countries it had risen by 100 percent.
"The increase in the developing world is mainly driven by China," he said. "But there are also others there."
He said the growth in scientific research and collaboration should help the world find solutions to global challenges, and added: "No historically dominant nation can afford to rest on its laurels if it wants to re
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