Singapore ranks most productive in Asia Pacific

But in terms of what, you might ask.

Singapore emerged as the most productive in Asia Pacific for publishing the highest number of research articles per capita and per research scientist, according to the Nature Publishing Index 2011 Asia-Pacific released by the Nature Publishing Group.

With its score of 10.39 research articles per million population and 1.90 articles per 1000 researchers, Singapore topped the chart in productivity. In contrast, Japan, which is ranked No. 1 in output of research articles, scored 2.83 research articles per million population and 0.43 research article per 1000 researchers.

Based on the 2009-2011 period, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research is placed 15th out of 200 research institutions in Asia-Pacific, with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) emerging in 18th and 35th positions, respectively.