The British Nature supplement Nature Index 2022 - Research Cities, launched on Nov 26, analyzed the scientific research output of major cities and metropolitan areas in the world in 82 natural science journals in 2022, tracked by the Nature Index. 

It shows that Beijing still maintains first place among the world's leading scientific research cities. 

In 2016, Beijing overtook the New York metropolitan area to become the world's number one scientific research city. This marks the sixth consecutive year since the release of the results in 2017 that Beijing has ranked first. The New York metropolitan area maintained second place, Shanghai rose to third place, with the Boston metropolitan area and San Francisco Bay Area ranking fourth and fifth respectively.

The Nature Index is compiled and released by Nature Portfolio, a subsidiary of Springer Nature, an internationally renowned scientific and technological publishing institution. It tracks scientific research papers published in 82 high-quality natural science journals, according to the number and proportion of papers from relevant institutions, countries or regions, reflecting global high-quality scientific research output and cooperation.

Beijing's scientific research output in the Nature Index accounts for nearly one-fifth of the national total. The number of top 500 institutions in the global natural index and the top five scientific research cities are: 23 in Beijing, 14 in New York, 12 in Shanghai, seven in Boston, and six in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Beijing is also the largest scientific research cooperation center among cities in China. Many of the most important scientific research cooperations are carried out with Beijing.

According to the contribution share of the natural index, covering all natural science disciplines, the top five cities are: Beijing, New York, Shanghai, Boston, and San Francisco.

Beijing ranks first in the world in terms of high-quality output in the field of physical sciences, followed by Shanghai and Boston in second and third. Beijing and Shanghai rank first and second in chemistry, with New York being the highest ranking American city.

According to official statistics, in 2021, the number of research and development (R&D) personnel in Beijing reached 338,000, including 76,000 basic research personnel. 

The overall scale and quality of scientific and technological talents will continue to increase. The total investment in research and experimental development (R&D) of the whole of society  increased from 106.34 billion yuan ($15.24 billion) in 2012 to 262.93 billion yuan in 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 10.6 percent, injecting strong vitality into innovation and development.

The research and experimental development of the whole society (R&D) investment intensity increased from 5.59 percent in 2012 to 6.53 percent in 2021, ranking among the top global innovation cities. 

In regards to the R&D expenditures of the whole of society, the basic research funds increased from 12.58 billion yuan in 2012 to 42.25 billion yuan in 2021, accounting for about 1/4 of the country's total; the proportion of basic research funds increased from 11.8 percent in 2012 to 16.1 percent by 2021.

The supplement also introduces the agglomeration effect of industrial clusters in leading scientific research cities, such as Beijing and Boston. Beijing has China's first high-tech park - Zhongguancun Science Park. The park is home to dozens of universities including Tsinghua University, many scientific research institutions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and about 300 R&D centers of multinational companies in the park.