hankyoreh

The number of papers of South Korean scientists in prestigious journals has jumped sharply in the last 10 years, a government report said Tuesday.

The number of the papers in the journals Science, Nature and Cell has risen from a total of two in 1997 to 18 last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.

The nine-fold increase is a clear indication that papers written or co-authored by South Korean scientists have improved in quality and are receiving recognition in the international community, it said.

"The publication of the papers in the three journals is proof of gains by South Korea's scientific community," said a ministry official. The annual number of papers exceeded 10 for the first time in 1999 and hit a record high of 27 in 2005.

From 1997 to last year, the total number of papers written by South Korean scientists in the top three journals reached 176.

Science, Nature and Cell maintain a high reputation in the scientific community because of their rigorous selection processes.

Papers published in those journals are used extensively as references for other research.

The increase in published papers, meanwhile, has helped boost the country's international standing in terms of scientific competitiveness, the ministry said.

A report by the Swiss-based International Institute of Management and Development rated South Korea as sixth worldwide in terms of technological competitiveness and 12th in scientific competitiveness last year, up from 28th in 1998.

Rand Corp. said in its Global Technology Revolution 2020 report published last year that South Korea is expected to rank among the top seven technologically advanced countries in the world along with the United States, Japan, Germany and Canada.

The improvement in quality of research being conducted by South Korean scientists is in line with efforts by the Science Ministry to raise the country's technological competitiveness to fifth place and scientific competitiveness to 10th place by 2010.
Seoul, Feb. 20 (Yonhap News)