China overtakes the United States in cancer research output

Heating up

In 2024, China overtook the United States in cancer research output in the Nature Index for the first time, taking its place as the leading country in the field. With a 19% jump in Share that year, China’s improvement was much stronger than the United States’, whose output only increased by 5% between 2023 and 2024.

Preferred partner

The United States is the unequivocal leader in cancer-research collaboration, being involved in the top 10 partnerships in the field by bilateral collaboration score. The United States–China collaboration, seen here among other selected US cancer-research partnerships, lost significant ground in 2021, which it might struggle to regain if political tensions between the countries continue.

Leader of the pack

Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is in a class of its own in cancer-related research output in the Nature Index. With a Share of 1,169.18 for the period January 2019 to August 2024, Harvard is well clear of its closest rival in the field, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing, with a Share of 768.09 for the period.

Pole position

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Nature 640, S65 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01154-4

This article is part of Nature Index 2025 Cancer, an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content. For more information about Nature Index, see the homepage.

This story originally appeared on: Nature - Author:furtherReadingSection