How CAS’s research output supports SDGs

From 2008 to 2018, as tracked in Digital Science’s Dimensions database, CAS published nearly 320,000 science-related journal papers. Using an algorithm to match article topics and abstracts to descriptions of the 17 SDGs, we identified just under 15,800 papers to be relevant to the goals. Given the interdisciplinary nature of research required for each SDG, each of these papers can contribute to more than one goal.

CAS’s SDG contribution has grown over these 10 years. In 2008, there were fewer than 400 relevant papers. By 2018 that had risen to more than 3,000, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23%, more than double the rate of growth of CAS’s overall research output of 11%. What’s more, although primarily a science and engineering-focused research institution, CAS has contributed at least one paper to all 17 goals, speaking to the breadth of its research base. There are 10 goals that have at least 200 relevant publications where these subjects have clearer scientific underpinnings.

Climate action (goal 13), affordable and clean energy (goal 7), good health and well-being (goal 3), sustainable cities and communities (goal 11), and life on land (goal 15) are the top SDGs supported by CAS’s output (Figure 1). Goals 13 and 7 dominate: more than 9,100 articles (58%) contribute to climate action; clean energy has nearly 7,600 articles, accounting for 48% of CAS’s SDG-relevant papers.

The high concentration of articles on climate change and clean energy may indicate some top-down influences, in line with China’s stated national strategies. CAS has launched several key projects on these topics, such as the Big Earth Data Science Engineering Programme (CASEarth), the Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues project, and the Transformational Technologies for Clean Energy and Demonstration project, all under its Strategic Priority Research Programme (Priority Programme).

Among the top 10 SDGs, output is growing fastest in responsible consumption and production (goal 12) and decent work and economic growth (goal 8), which both have a CAGR of around 30% — albeit starting from a low base. Publications relevant to the top four goals (13, 7, 3, 11) are also growing strongly, with CAGRs of at least 22% (Figure 2).

A global comparison

This report compares CAS’s SDG-related output with that of 10 other leading research institutions for 2008 to 2018. As the institution with the largest volume of research output overall, it is no surprise that CAS also has the most SDG-related papers, having published more than second-placed Helmholtz Association, in Germany, and third-placed University of Oxford, in the UK, combined.

Consistent with its rapid growth in total research output, CAS also has the highest growth rate of SDG-related publications over this 10-year period (Figure 3). Peking University is the only other institution with a CAGR above 20%; the others range from 12 to 17%. Like CAS, most institutions have higher growth rates for SDG-related publications than for their overall research output. While this might be partly due to the lower base value for the former, it also suggests the growing attention to the roles of science in supporting the SDGs at these leading research institutions.

As a proportion of total research output, however, CAS is further down the group. Its SDG-related papers account for barely 5% of its total output, placing it eighth, ahead of only Peking University, the University of Tokyo, and Germany’s Max Planck Group. By contrast, ETH Zurich in Switzerland has the smallest overall volume of research output, but tops the list in terms of the percentage of SDG-related papers at more than 7%. These data suggest that there is more that CAS can do to better align its research with the SDGs to make a greater impact, given the large volume of its output.

Looking at specific SDGs, CAS has the highest research output for six of the 17 goals, namely clean water and sanitation (goal 6), clean energy (goal 7), sustainable cities (goal 11), responsible consumption and production (goal 12), climate action (goal 13), and life on land (goal 15). This lead is most pronounced for goals 13 and 7, more than doubling the output of second-placed Helmholtz Association. In terms of the proportion out of the total SDG-related papers for an institution, ETH Zurich and Helmholtz Association present similar patterns with CAS, also demonstrating focus on climate action and clean energy (Figure 4).

This leaves 11 goals where CAS lags behind some, or all, of its peer group. One of these is good health (goal 3), which is actually CAS’s third-largest SDG. Here it is outstripped by Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford; these are also the top three institutions in this group for output in medical and health-related research, which helps explain their advantage in this goal.

Nevertheless, CAS is catching up. For overall life science and medical research, CAS’s CAGR is 13%, whereas its SDG-related research on good health has a CAGR of 27%. This health-related focus is in line with the national strategy to improve health, as outlined in the Healthy China 2030 plan¹. Health challenges have never been as great as in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, and CAS has been a major player in this regard.

In general, there is strong concordance among the universities in terms of the spread of SDG-related research (Figure 5). The primarily science-related goals, such as good health (goal 3), clean energy (goal 7), and climate action (goal 13), tend to have a lot of papers from each institution. Goals that are more social, political or industrial, such as gender equality (goal 5), decent work and economic growth (goal 8), no poverty (goal 1), and partnerships for the goals (goal 17), have very little output from most institutions. This may also reflect the nature of the data used for the analysis, which focuses on scientific bibliometrics.

There are a couple of exceptions, however, that almost certainly reflect the contribution of specialized social science and humanities centres within institutions. For instance, University of Oxford is the only institution to have sizeable proportion of its output contributing to goal 1: no poverty, and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative², an economic research and policy centre housed within its Department of International Development may have played an important role here. Oxford, along with Harvard, Cambridge and Stanford has also published hundreds of papers (Harvard more than 1,000) for goal 16: peace, justice and strong institutions. In contrast, for both goals 1 and 16, CAS has published fewer than 100 papers.

CAS is primarily a science and engineering research institution that does not have the same focus on social sciences and humanities programmes as a comprehensive university does. But, given the growing global importance of interdisciplinary research that melds the social, natural and applied sciences, enhancing its expertise in these fields might help CAS better address global challenges like the SDGs with its research.

Connecting SDGs to research fields

As might be expected, CAS’s strongest SDGs are largely aligned with its overall research strengths. Most of its SDG-related research falls into the fields of engineering, or chemical, biological, Earth, and environmental sciences (Figure 6). With the exception of the latter, these are also CAS’s top overall research fields. The main outlier is physical science, which makes a relatively small contribution to the SDGs, yet is CAS’s fourth-largest subject. This suggests the opportunity for CAS to better leverage its physical science strength to contribute to SDGs, including the clean energy goal, for instance.

CAS’s primary strengths in chemical sciences and engineering translate to strong contributions to many SDGs. For instance, chemical sciences accounts for 34% of CAS’s clean energy (goal 7) papers, and also contributes to 11 other SDGs. Engineering, as an applied subject, contributes to 15 SDGs, most notably providing 45% to goal 7. It is also the largest contributor to four other SDGs, including sustainable cities (goal 11), responsible consumption (goal 12), industry, innovation and infrastructure (goal 9), and quality education (goal 4). This result reflects the global pattern, where the majority of clean energy papers can be categorized in engineering or chemical sciences.

Engineering and chemistry make more modest contributions to CAS’s other top SDG of climate action (goal 13) though. Here more than half of papers are in Earth and biological sciences. Indeed, compared with their share of CAS’s overall output, both biological and environmental sciences make outsized contributions to all SDG-related output. This suggests there is untapped potential for CAS to leverage its strengths in chemical, engineering and physical sciences to address various SDGs. Growth opportunities in biological and environmental sciences research will also pay dividends in terms of accelerated SDG output.

Connecting SDGs with research fields highlights the multidisciplinary nature of both the SDGs and CAS’s research. For the goal on climate action, for example, Earth science papers unsurprisingly make up the largest share (28%) followed by biological sciences papers (22%) and environmental sciences (17%). But there are also 12% of climate action papers that can be categorized as engineering. In total, CAS’s climate action and clean energy output each includes papers from 20 research fields, which also speaks to the strength of CAS to mobilize its multidisciplinary research forces to work on these goals.