President of Astana International University Elected Vice President of the Asian Academy of Sciences

Sixty per cent of the world’s population lives in Asia. Scientists from Asian countries account for 45% of global scientific publications and discoveries. The Asian region has surpassed North America and Europe in terms of research growth and volume. Half of the world’s peer-reviewed articles are produced by Asian researchers.

According to the Scopus and NSF databases, China alone publishes approximately 930,000 articles annually, ranking first in the world. India publishes 220,000 papers per year, ranking third globally and accounting for 7-8% of the world’s scientific articles. Japan and South Korea contribute 5-6% of the global scientific output, while Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and Indonesia account for 4-5%.

In strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, materials science, chemistry and nanotechnology, Chinese and South Korean researchers publish twice as many papers in the top 1% of the world’s most cited articles as researchers from the United States.

There is a growing need to institutionalise the synergy of the Asian scientific community, following the example of the European Academy. For this purpose, more than 100 scientists established the Asian Academy of Sciences. The Academy is registered in the People’s Republic of China as an international non-profit association headquartered in Hong Kong.

The Asian Academy of Sciences currently brings together distinguished scientists, Nobel Prize laureates, presidents and vice presidents of national academies of sciences, ministers and vice ministers, parliamentarians, university rectors and heads of research institutes from 25 countries. These countries include China, Russia, India, Japan, Pakistan, Türkiye, Iran, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Mongolia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Moldova, Greece, Belarus and Bangladesh.

From 20 to 23 October this year, the historic first General Assembly of the Asian Academy of Sciences was held in Sanya, Hainan, China. The Assembly addressed organisational matters and identified the Academy’s strategic areas of activity. The Government of the People’s Republic of China allocated 100 hectares of land for the construction of the Academy’s building, which will house national offices of the Asian Academy of Sciences and scientific laboratories.

Astana International University has been accorded a great honour. Its President, S.A. Irsaliyev, was elected Vice President of the Asian Academy of Sciences and appointed to lead its representative office in Kazakhstan.

There is much important work ahead.

We wish the Asian Academy of Sciences prosperity, outstanding achievements and international recognition!