Contribution of China- USA Relationship in the Web of Science Database: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to underscore the contribution of the China-USA relationship under the bibliometric lens published in the Web of Science core collections.  The study employed a bibliometric approach of content analysis.  The findings reveal that a total of 10,035 publications on US-China were recorded in the Web of Science, and the majority of them were journal articles (83%), and 37.5% of them were open-access articles. The collection also reveals that the International Relations subject remained a highly contributing discipline with 13.8%, followed by astronomy, political science, and area studies. Furthermore, the most influential contributors were from China, such as Zhang Y, Wang J, and Wang Y, while the institutional-wise records show that the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and the University of California System were at the forefront. The record also reveals that China has contributed 65.4%, followed by the USA with 28.1% of publications. The publisher record reveals that Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and Elsevier were the highest contributors, while publications in the English language remained the highest (96.2%). The study concludes that the literature on US-China is expanding exponentially at the global level in diverse disciplines.  Recommendations include expanding open access, multilingual outputs, and collaborative research in order to enrich the academic discourse.