Progress in osteoarthritis research by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) in China is gradually becoming an important scientific research area that has had a significant impact on research and development (R&D) activities in the OA field worldwide. This article summarizes the R&D progress related to OA in China in recent years. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is a national funding institution for basic research and plays a critical role in promoting and supporting Chinese scholars' R&D activities. We collected and analyzed information on NSFC funding in the field of OA from 2010 to 2019, including the amount, the level and the program categories of the funded projects. The data fully demonstrate the important and positive role of the NSFC in supporting free exploration, cultivating research teams and young talent, and boosting OA R&D. In this article, we outline and discuss hot topics in focused areas, key advances in this field and the prospects for progress in OA research in China.

Fig. 1

Statistics for the situation of funding in the field of OA provided by the NSFC in China (2010-2019). a The annual number of funded projects and their gross funding amounts. b The number of funded projects related to OA by the different project types. c Comparison of different departments of the NSFC involved in OA research. d The rank of codes initiating grants for the study of OA

Fig. 2

Comparison of national basic research grant support in the field of OA among the NIH, UKRI and KAKENHI (2010–2019). a Changes in the number of funded projects and funding amounts of the NIH in the USA. b Changes in the number of funded projects and funding amounts of UKRI in the United Kingdom. c Changes in the number of funded projects and funding amounts of KAKENHI in Japan. d Comparison of the amounts of grants allotted for OA research in the USA, United Kingdom, China and Japan

Fig. 3

Statistics for the number of funded projects in different regions and universities in China (2010–2019). a The project applications are related to OA. b The comparison of different provinces of mainland China with respect to the number of obtained projects. c The top five universities that received osteoarthritis-related funds from the NSFC. d The top three traditional Chinese medicine universities by type of funded projects. e The changing trend in the number of young scientist projects. f Statistics for the number of scholars who received financial support in the field of OA

Fig. 4

The publication situation of China and other countries in the field of OA (2010-2019). a The number of publications from China, the USA, the UK and Japan and the proportion funded by the NSFC, the NIH, UKRI and KAKENHI. b Comparison of the numbers of high-level publications among the top four countries. c The data of highly cited papers from different countries in the Web of Science

Fig. 5

Statistics for publications about China in the field of OA (2010–2019). a Statistics on the number of papers published in four elite journals of rheumatology. b Number of Chinese studies published in elite rheumatology journals and the proportion of NSFC funding. c Statistics on the affiliation of the corresponding authors of articles in elite rheumatology journals. d Distribution of the corresponding authors’ affiliations in China by province

Fig. 6

The distribution of the top 30 keywords in the publications supported by the NIH or NSFC. a The distribution of the top 30 keywords in the publications supported by the NIH. b The distribution of the top 30 keywords in the publications supported by the NSFC