China is on pace to overtake the U.S. in scientific output possibly as soon as 2013, the BBC reports.

The Royal Society study charts the challenge from China to the traditional dominance of the United States, Europe and Japan. The figures of published research papers on recognized international journals reveal an "especially striking" rise by Chinese science.

Although the United States still leads the world, its share of global authorship has fallen to 21% from 26%, and its closest rival is now China, which has risen from sixth to second place with a share of authorship rising to 10.2% from 4.4%. This study shows that China could go on to overtake America on science in as little as two years.

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