China projected to be top in science output

By 2013 China is projected to surpass the USA in numbers of published scientific papers according to a Royal Society report. According to the BBC:

"By 2008, the US total had increased very slightly to 316,317 while China's had surged more than seven-fold to 184,080.

Previous estimates for the rate of expansion of Chinese science had suggested that China might overtake the US sometime after 2020.

But this study shows that China, after displacing the UK as the world's second leading producer of research, could go on to overtake America in as little as two years' time."