Synthetic biology and governance research in China: a 40-year evolution

Li Tang, Jennifer Kuzma, Xi Zhang, Xinyu Song, Yin Li, Hongxu Liu () and Guangyuan Hu ()
Additional contact information
Li Tang: Fudan University
Jennifer Kuzma: North Carolina State University
Xi Zhang: Tianjin University
Xinyu Song: Tianjin University
Yin Li: Fudan University
Hongxu Liu: Tongji University
Guangyuan Hu: Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Scientometrics, 2023, vol. 128, issue 9, No 15, 5293-5310

Abstract: Abstract The governance of emerging technologies has become a topic of global concern, not only for national competitiveness, but also for national security. Among other technologies, synthetic biology (SynBio) has been prioritized in the policy agenda of many countries; China is no exception. Unfortunately, despite the interconnectedness of governance practices and research development, few studies have investigated the current situation and development trajectory of this emerging dual use technology. To fill in this gap, this study focuses on China and investigates the pattern and evolution of its SynBio and related biosafety and biosecurity research published in both domestic and international databases. We find that despite its late entrance to the field, national government funding plays a critical role in China’s SynBio research. However, the funding ratio of SynBio as well as SynBio safety research is lower than China’s average when considering all fields. The structural topic model analysis reveals that the biological sciences dominate China’s SynBio research and slowly diffuse to other disciplines such as materials science, physics, and medicine, while perspectives from Chinese social scientists are barely recorded on the international academic stage. We also find little overlap of topics between China’s domestic and international output on SynBio and its safety research. Speculations and policy implications are discussed in the end.

Keywords: Synthetic biology; Biosafety; Biosecurity; Structural topic model; Governance of emerging technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-023-04789-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:128:y:2023:i:9:d:10.1007_s11192-023-04789-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-023-04789-0

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().