Three Dimensions for Promoting High-Quality Development of Scientific Research in Higher Education Institutions

Science and technology investment has continued to increase, with total R&D spending nationwide exceeding 3.6 trillion yuan in 2024, a 48% increase over 2020; the total number of R&D personnel ranks first in the world; the number of high-level international journal papers and international patent applications has ranked first in the world for five consecutive years... At the recent press conference series themed “High-Quality Completion of the 14th Five-Year Plan,” [1]1 The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) is China’s national economic and social development plan. China’s achievements in scientific and technological innovation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period were inspiring. Behind these impressive figures, what should our scientific research pursue further? The author believes that, in the new stage of achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening and comprehensively building a world-class higher education power, we need to take the pursuit of excellent research quality as the central task, take “applying knowledge to meet practical needs” (经世致用) as the fundamental mission of scientific research, and take leading international scientific research as the direction of effort. Only in this way can China’s scientific research enterprise obtain a continuous and sustainable driving force for development, and can it lay a solid foundation for building a strong nation in education, science and technology, and talent.

科技投入持续增加，2024年全社会研发投入超3.6万亿元，较2020年增长48%；研发人员总量世界第一；高水平国际期刊论文数量和国际专利申请量连续5年世界第一……日前召开的“高质量完成‘十四五’规划”系列主题新闻发布会上，我国“十四五”时期科技创新发展成就令人振奋。在亮眼的数据背后，我们的科学研究更应该追求什么？笔者认为，在实现高水平科技自立自强以及全面建成世界高等教育强国新阶段，我们需要把追求卓越的科研质量作为中心任务，以经世致用作为科学研究的根本使命，以引领国际的科学研究为努力方向。唯此，我国科学研究事业才能够得到源源不断的可持续发展动力，也才能够为教育强国、科技强国、人才强国建设奠定坚实基础。

Taking the Pursuit of Excellent Research Quality as the Central Task

以追求卓越的科研质量为中心任务

Since reform and opening up, [2]2 Reform and opening up refers to the series of economic and social reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. China’s higher education and scientific research enterprise has achieved rapid development. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, [3]3 The 18th National Congress of the CPC was held in 2012, marking the beginning of Xi Jinping’s leadership. China has accelerated the pace of building a world-class higher education power. Among the many tasks of building a higher education power, scientific research occupies an important position. From the historical laws of the development of world higher education powers, only those countries that can continuously produce world-class academic research results and become world scientific research centers can be called world higher education powers. In recent years, the scale of scientific research in China’s higher education has expanded rapidly, and its level has also greatly improved. The main manifestation is that the number and quality of international publications of academic papers have achieved leapfrog improvements, ranking among the top in the world in terms of quantity.

改革开放以来，我国高等教育以及科学研究事业取得了日新月异的发展成就。党的十八大以来，我国更是加快了建设世界高等教育强国的步伐。在建设高等教育强国的诸多任务中，科学研究占据着重要位置。从世界高等教育强国发展的历史规律看，唯有那些能够持续产出世界一流学术研究成果并成为世界科学研究中心的国家，才可称之为世界高等教育强国。近年来我国高等教育的科学研究规模得到了快速扩张，水平也大幅提升。其中主要的表现就是学术论文的国际发表数量和质量均有跨越式提升，在数量上已位居全球前列。

However, from the basic laws of scientific research, the quantity of papers does not equal quality, nor can it simply equal core competitiveness and influence. Although China’s scientific research has achieved great success, there is still a considerable gap in overall quality compared with developed countries in higher education worldwide. Although paper publications are far ahead, we still need to catch up in basic, curiosity-driven research. On average, the citation counts of Chinese papers are still lower than those of papers from the United States, the United Kingdom, or the European Union, and the number of publications in the two top journals, *Nature* and *Science*, is still less than that of traditional academic powers. Furthermore, in terms of the number of internationally recognized scientific awards such as the Nobel Prize and the Fields Medal, there is still a large gap between China and developed countries. Therefore, in the new stage of higher education development, only by continuously producing academic research results with world influence and competitiveness can China’s higher education institutions further consolidate the foundation of scientific research for building a world-class higher education power.

然而，从科学研究的基本规律看，论文的数量不等于质量，也不能简单等于核心竞争力和影响力。虽然我国科学研究取得了巨大成就，但在整体质量上与世界高等教育发达国家还存在较大差距。尽管论文发表遥遥领先，但我们在基础、好奇心驱动的研究方面仍需要追赶。平均而言，中国论文的引用次数还是低于来自美国、英国或欧盟的论文，且在《自然》《科学》这两大顶尖期刊上的发表数量仍少于传统学术强国。此外，从国际公认的科学大奖诺贝尔奖和菲尔兹奖等的获得数来看，我国与发达国家还有很大的差距。为此，在高等教育发展新阶段，我国高校唯有持续产出具有世界影响力和竞争力的学术研究成果，才可能进一步为建设世界高等教育强国夯实科学研究的基础。

Next, we need to take the pursuit of excellent scientific research quality as the central task, and clear obstacles to the pursuit of excellent scientific research quality from aspects such as school-running philosophy, resource investment, and evaluation systems. In terms of school-running philosophy, we must break the habitual thinking of performance-first doctrine, create a more relaxed and free inquiry academic atmosphere for researchers, produce practical measures for “ten years to sharpen a sword” and “willing to sit on a cold bench for ten years,” [4]4 These are Chinese idioms describing the long-term dedication and patience required for significant scholarly or artistic achievement. provide sufficient institutional and material guarantees, and especially cultivate and protect the leisurely curiosity of scientific researchers, enabling them to raise interesting and cutting-edge scientific research questions and conduct long-term, sustained inquiry, avoiding blindly pursuing quick and numerous results under the coercion of research KPIs; from the perspective of resource investment models, we must abandon short-termist input-output behavior, pay more attention to long-term funding for researchers, especially for some basic, cutting-edge, and curiosity-driven research, because scientific research itself has uncertainty and enormous risk, so we need to further downplay short-cycle evaluations and frequent process evaluations of some basic theoretical research, allowing the vast number of scientific researchers to continuously establish a long-termist research attitude; from the perspective of academic evaluation system reform, the core lies in abandoning the inherent orientation of “judging success or failure by the number of paper publications and journal level.” On the one hand, through systematic institutional design, stimulate the endogenous motivation of researchers to bravely venture into the frontiers of science and technology and explore “uncharted territory”; on the other hand, further actively explore new academic evaluation models centered on value, making the innovative contribution and practical significance of research the key measurement standards. For example, Shimon Sakaguchi, the 2025 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine, published his key achievement that changed the course of immunology research in 1995 in the *Journal of Immunology*, a journal classified as Zone 3 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. [5]5 The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) journal classification system ranks journals into zones (Zone 1 being the highest) based on impact factors. This case precisely illustrates that evaluating academic value should not be limited to journal level but should focus on the groundbreaking significance of the research itself.

接下来，我们需要以追求卓越的科学研究质量为中心任务，从办学理念、资源投入、评价制度等方面为追求卓越的科学研究质量扫清障碍。在办学理念上，要破除绩效至上主义的思维惯性，为研究者营造更为宽松和自由探究的学术氛围，为“十年磨一剑”和“板凳甘坐十年冷”拿出切实可行的办法，提供充足的制度和物质保障，尤其是要培养和保护科研工作者闲逸的好奇心，让他们能够提出有趣和前沿的科学研究问题并开展长期持续的探究，避免在科研KPI裹挟之下一味追求快出成果、多出成果；从资源投入模式看，要摒弃投入产出的短期主义行为，更注重对研究者的长期资助，尤其是一些基础性、前沿性和好奇心驱动的研究，因为科学研究本身就具有不确定性和巨大的风险性，所以需要进一步淡化对一些基础理论研究的短周期评价和频繁的过程性评价，让广大科研工作者不断树立起长期主义的科研态度；从学术评价制度改革来看，核心在于摒弃“以论文发表数量和期刊级别论成败”的固有导向，一方面，通过系统性制度设计激发研究者勇闯科技前沿、探索“无人区”的内生动力；另一方面，进一步积极探索以价值为核心的学术评价新模式，让研究的创新贡献与实际意义成为关键衡量标准。如，2025年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖获得者坂口志文，其改变免疫学研究进程的关键成果是1995年发表在中国科学院三区所属期刊“JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY”上。这一案例恰恰说明评价学术价值不应局限于期刊级别，而需聚焦研究本身的突破性意义。

Taking “Applying Knowledge to Meet Practical Needs” (经世致用) as the Fundamental Mission of Scientific Research

以经世致用为科学研究的根本使命

The term “applying knowledge to meet practical needs” (经世致用) was proposed by thinkers such as Wang Fuzhi [6]6 Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692) was a Chinese philosopher and historian of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. during the Ming and Qing dynasties. They believed that learning and citing the writings and deeds of the ancients should take managing affairs and saving the world as urgent tasks, opposing the impractical and empty learning of the pseudo-Confucianists of their time. Publishing academic papers is only one form of expression of scientific research; the fundamental purpose and ultimate value of scientific research lie in helping humanity understand and transform the world, and contributing to the progress and development of human civilization, taking “applying knowledge to meet practical needs” as the fundamental mission.

“经世致用”一词由明清之际思想家王夫之等提出。他们认为，学习、征引古人的文章和行事，应以治事、救世为急务，反对当时的伪理学家不切实际的空虚之学。学术论文发表只是科学研究的表现形式之一，科学研究的根本目的和终极价值在于帮助人类理解世界和改造世界，并为人类文明的进步发展贡献力量，以经世致用为根本使命。

In today’s world, competition between countries is increasingly fierce. The vast number of scientific researchers in China should take the prosperity and progress of the nation and the people as their mission, and strive continuously to enhance the country’s comprehensive competitiveness through their own scientific research activities. While publishing academic papers can strengthen exchanges among academic peers and promote the progress and prosperity of the academic system, the publication of academic papers is not the endpoint of scientific research activities, nor is it their fundamental mission. Especially in the era where science and technology are the primary productive forces, [7]7 This phrase originates from Deng Xiaoping’s statement that “science and technology are the primary productive forces.” the focus must be substantively on enhancing the nation’s scientific and technological innovation capability and comprehensive national power. Next, we need to further strengthen the historic shift from international paper publication to “applying knowledge to meet practical needs,” and accordingly produce systematic designs in terms of scientific research models, resource investment, and evaluation systems.

当今世界，国与国之间的竞争日趋激烈，我国广大科研工作者要以国家和民族的繁荣进步为使命，通过自身的科学研究活动为增强国家的综合竞争力接续奋斗。学术论文的发表固然能够加强学术同行的交流，促进学术体系的进步与繁荣，但学术论文的发表不是科学研究活动的终点，更不是其根本使命。尤其是在科学技术是第一生产力的时代背景下，需实质性以提升国家的科技创新能力和综合国力为重。接下来，我们需要进一步强化从论文国际发表到经世致用的历史性转变，并据此在科学研究模式、资源投入和评价制度等方面拿出系统性设计。

First, we must further construct a practice-oriented scientific research model, taking the major needs of the country and the requirements of economic and social development as the logical starting point of scientific research, and constructing a trinity model of “basic theoretical research – development of scientific and technological achievements – transformation of applied technology.” This involves both “poking a hole in the sky upward” in basic theoretical research to achieve innovation in academic theory, and “taking root downward” in the transformation of applied technology to solve practical problems.

首先，要进一步构建起以实践为导向的科学研究模式，将国家重大需求和经济社会发展所需作为科学研究的逻辑起点，构建起“基础理论研究—科技成果开发—应用技术转化”三位一体的模式，既要在基础理论研究上“向上捅破天”而实现学术理论的创新，还要在应用技术转化上“向下扎根”而解决实际问题。

Second, in terms of resource investment, scientific research management departments and higher education institutions must further invest precious scientific research resources into core and key areas that constrain the country’s economic and social development, solving major practical problems by establishing major research platforms and conducting major research projects.

其次，在资源投入上，科研管理部门及高校要进一步将宝贵的科学研究资源投向制约国家经济社会发展的核心关键领域，通过建立重大研究平台，开展重大研究课题而解决重大实践问题。

Finally, from the perspective of academic evaluation, we must abandon the evaluation system that uses the number of academic paper publications or journal level as the standard, and further take what theoretical or practical problems scientific research has solved, and what substantive contributions it has made to promoting the country’s economic and social development, as the basic basis for measuring the value of researchers and their scientific research activities.

最后，从学术评价上看，要摒弃以学术论文发表数量或期刊级别作为标准的评价体系，进一步以科学研究解决了什么理论或实践问题，对于促进国家经济社会发展作出了哪些实质性贡献等，作为衡量研究者及其科学研究活动价值的基本依据。

It needs to be made clear that the value orientation of scientific research as “applying knowledge to meet practical needs” is not contradictory to free inquiry; the two have inherent logical consistency and self-consistency. The former means that conducting scientific research should take fundamentally solving practical and theoretical problems as its aim, while the latter emphasizes respecting the subjective initiative and creativity of researchers, also aiming to fully stimulate researchers’ innovative ability to produce better research results.

需要明确的是，经世致用的科学研究价值取向与自由探索并不矛盾，两者具有内在的逻辑一致性和自洽性。前者是指开展科学研究要以根本性解决实践和理论问题为旨趣，而后者则更强调尊重研究者的主观能动性和创造性，目的也在于充分激发研究者的创新能力以产出更好的研究成果。

Taking Leading International Scientific Research as the Direction of Effort

以引领国际科学研究为努力方向

From the laws of development, world higher education centers and scientific research centers often have a high degree of consistency. To become a world scientific research center, a basic prerequisite is the ability to lead world scientific research. At a time when a new round of scientific and technological revolution represented by artificial intelligence is in the ascendant, China’s scientific research must strive to realize the lofty ideal of leading the world through methods such as “changing lanes and overtaking.” [8]8 “Changing lanes and overtaking” is a Chinese metaphor for achieving a leapfrog advantage by adopting a different development path or technology. Specifically, efforts and explorations need to be made in the following aspects.

从发展规律上看，世界高等教育中心和科学研究中心往往具有高度的一致性。而要成为世界科学研究中心，一个基本的前提是对世界科学研究具有引领能力。在以人工智能为代表的新一轮科技革命方兴未艾之际，我国科学研究要通过“换道超车”等方式矢志实现引领国际的崇高理想。具体来说，需要在如下几个方面作出努力和探索。

First, keep a close watch on the frontier directions of world scientific research and produce academic research results with global leading significance. At present, China has to a certain extent completed the accumulation of total scientific research output. Next, we need to keep a close watch on the frontiers of world scientific research, actively laying out and exploring in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum physics, controlled nuclear fusion, and the development and utilization of hydrogen energy, in order to continuously attain a leading position in world scientific research.

首先，紧盯世界科学研究前沿方向，产出具有全球引领性的学术研究成果。当前，我国已经在一定程度上完成了科学研究总量的积累，接下来，我们需要紧盯世界科学研究前沿，在人工智能、量子物理、可控核聚变、氢能源开发利用等领域积极布局和探索，以不断获得世界科学研究的引领性地位。

Second, actively carry out the transformation of scientific research paradigms, laying the foundation for scientific research to attain a leading position. The current scientific research paradigm is undergoing drastic change, mainly reflected in the following three aspects: solving systemic complex problems has become the main driving force for the transformation of the scientific research paradigm in the New Era; simulation modeling and data science may become effective breakthroughs for promoting the transformation of the scientific research paradigm; and innovation in the organization of scientific research activities has become the foundation for promoting the transformation of the scientific research paradigm. The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry were awarded to scientists related to artificial intelligence (AI), which is a vivid example of the drastic transformation of the current scientific research paradigm. To this end, China's scientific research must seize this strategic opportunity and achieve strategic leadership in scientific research through paradigm transformation.

其次，积极开展科学研究范式转型，为科学研究具备引领性地位奠定基础。当前科研范式正在经历急剧变革，主要体现在如下三个方面：解决系统性复杂问题成为新时代科研范式变革主要驱动力，仿真模拟和数据科学可能成为推动科研范式变革的有效突破口，科研活动组织创新成为推动科研范式变革的基础。2024年度诺贝尔物理学奖和化学奖分别授予与人工智能（AI）相关的科学家，这正是当前科学研究范式急剧变革的鲜明例证。为此，我国科学研究要抢占这一战略机遇，通过范式转型实现科学研究的战略性引领。

Finally, China's scientific research workers must also have a strong courage and ability to be pioneers, achieving "changing lanes and overtaking" by actively opening up new fields of scientific research and bravely entering "no-man's land." In fact, looking at the lists of winners of international top natural science awards over the years, and examining the winners and their scientific research results, we can find that frontier, pioneering, and leading qualities are their basic value orientations, and this is also the direction that China's scientific research cause continuously seeks.

最后，我国科学研究工作者还要有强烈的敢为人先的胆魄和能力，通过积极开辟科学研究的新领域、勇闯“无人区”而实现“换道超车”。事实上，纵观历年国际顶尖自然科学奖项的获奖名单，审视获奖者及其科研成果，我们可以发现，前沿性、开创性和引领性是其基本价值取向，而这也是我国科学研究事业不断求索的方向。

(Author: Wu Chen, Professor at the College of Teacher Education, Ningbo University, and the Institute for the Development of Local High-Level Universities, Ningbo University)

（作者：伍 宸，系宁波大学教师教育学院、宁波大学地方高水平大学发展研究院教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧