A journalist views a robot during a visit to the Innovation Achievement Exhibition in Zhongguancun National Innovative Demonstration Zone in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 26, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Beijing has once again become the top global science city, and a total of six Chinese cities, including Shanghai which ranked fifth, made it to the top 20 of the Nature Index global science city 2020 rankings, marking the rise of Chinese cities in the field of global scientific research. 

According to the rankings, which were released on Saturday at the 2020 Zhongguancun Forum, the other four Chinese cities that ranked in the top 20 were Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Hefei. 

The Nature Index rankings were drawn up using a weighted fractional count of articles published in the 82 top global journals of natural sciences such as Nature, Science and Cell. 

David Swinbanks, founder of Nature Index, said that the concentration of talent, funding, research institutions and other resources were important factors for the top five global science cities to maintain their leading positions. 

For instance, Beijing has a group of globally influential universities and institutes, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which ranks as the world's top scientific research institution in the Nature Index. 

In addition, the top five global science cities also feature a very high level of scientific cooperation. As China's sci-tech innovation hub, Beijing has formed a close collaboration network of scientific research with other Chinese and overseas cities. Beijing's research collaboration with global cities ranks in the top 10 in the world and the output of research cooperation between Beijing and Shanghai rank first in the world. 

In 2016, the State Council issued an overall plan for Beijing to step up efforts to construct a national science and technology innovation center. In October 2019, Beijing municipality implemented 30 policies and measures to boost the center's construction. 

On January 10, 71 achievements made under the auspices of institutions in Beijing won the State Science and Technology Awards, accounting for 29.7 percent of the total number of prizes for general projects in China. 

Beijing has made remarkable achievements in innovation and development, particularly in basic research, core technologies and other fields. 

The city's "three science cities and one hi-tech area," namely Zhongguancun Science City, Huairou Science City, the Beijing Future Science Park and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, are the major pillars for realizing Beijing's initiative. 

Similarly, in 2019, Shanghai also issued 25 policies and measures to deepen the reforms of systems and mechanisms for science and technology to give researchers more powers and rights. 

Shanghai has been paying greater attention to the needs of young scientists in the allocation of resources, by providing them with more financial and living support, making Shanghai a science and innovation mecca for young people all over the world. 

According to the 2019 Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center Index Report issued by the Shanghai Institute for Science of Science in January, Shanghai's investment in research and development accounted for 4.16 percent of the city's GDP in 2018, higher than the national average level by 2 percentage points.