Just 20 years ago, on the eve of the Soviet Union's disintegration, Russia was a scientific superpower, carrying out more research than China, India and Brazil combined. Since then it has been left behind not only by the world-beating growth of Chinese science but also by India and Brazil.
Huge changes in the world's scientific landscape are revealed in an analysis of the output of the four Bric countries since 1981, carried out for the FT by Thomson Reuters, which indexes papers from 10,500 research journals worldwide.
The figures show not only the “awe-inspiring” expansion of Chinese science but also a very powerful performance by Brazil, much slower growth in India and relative decline in Russia.