Characteristics of research on bioinformatics in China assessed with Science Citation Index Expanded

A bibliometric research based on the Science Citation Index Expanded was carried out to provide insights into research activities on bioinformatics in China. Annual publication output has been on continuous increase both worldwide and for China from 1998 to 2012. In recent years, China showed faster growth rates than world average. As the second productive country in the field of bioinformatics, China did not do equally well in terms of citation counts and h-index. Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University were among the ten most productive institutes in the world, and their basic metrics and collaboration patterns were compared with other institutes, especially two institutes from Japan. The journal PLoS One was found to have published the most papers from China. In addition, this paper compared the most active categories in Web of Science worldwide with those of China. Personal perspectives of bioinformatics research in China were also presented.