Reverse Brain Drain
Reverse Brain Drain
Exploring Trends among Chinese Scientists in the U.S., Caught in the crossfire: Fears of Chinese–American scientists,
Reverse Brain Drain? Exploring Trends among Chinese Scientists in the U.S.
China has been the most important foreign supplier of U.S.-based scientists for more than two decades.
While most China-born, U.S.-based scientists intend to stay in the U.S., the number leaving has steadily increased. After the Department of Justice implemented the "China Initiative" in 2018, departures increased by 75%, with two-thirds of the relocated scientists moving to China.
Surveyed scientists of Chinese descent in the U.S. report anxiety and new difficulties in pursuing their research, with 61% considering leaving the U.S. and 45% avoiding federal grant applications.
U.S. science will likely suffer given the loss of scientific talent to China and other countries.
Along with native-born Chinese Americans, Chinese immigrants have become a large and visible demographic group in American science, technology, and engineering. However, the pressure of potential federal investigations since the 2018 launch of the “China Initiative” by the U.S. Department of Justice has provided scientists of Chinese descent in the U.S. with higher incentives to leave and lower incentives to apply for federal grants. What are the long-term consequences of the China Initiative on scientists of Chinese descent in the U.S. and the global leadership of the U.S. in science and technology?
The data. Researchers utilized Microsoft Academic Graph to analyze trends in the migration of U.S.-based Chinese scientists. Microsoft Academic Graph is a comprehensive database that tracks over 200 million scientists from over 25,000 institutions authoring over 200 million scientific publications through 2021. Using this data, the authors identified the working countries of researchers through their academic affiliations on publications and tracked those with Chinese surnames who initially published in the U.S., but later changed their affiliations to institutions abroad.
Additionally, an online survey of 1,304 U.S.-based scientists of Chinese descent was conducted between December 2021 and March 2022 to understand the impact of the China Initiative on the scientific community.
Caught in the crossfire: Fears of Chinese–American scientists
Significance
Our study reveals the widespread fear among scientists of Chinese descent in the United States arising from conducting routine research and academic activities. If this fear is not alleviated, there are significant risks of underutilization of scientific talent as well as losing scientific talent to China and other countries. Addressing the fear of US-based scientists of Chinese descent and making the American academic environment welcoming and attractive to all will help retain and attract scientific talent and strengthen the US global leadership in science and technology in the long run.
The US global leadership in science and technology has greatly benefitted from immigrants from other countries, most notably from China in the recent decades. However, feeling the pressure of potential federal investigations since the 2018 launch of the China Initiative, scientists of Chinese descent in the United States now face higher incentives to leave the United States and lower incentives to apply for federal grants. Analyzing data pertaining to institutional affiliations of more than 200 million scientific papers, we find a steady increase in the return migration of scientists of Chinese descent from the United States to China. We also conducted a survey of scientists of Chinese descent employed by US universities in tenured or tenure-track positions (n = 1,304), with results revealing general feelings of fear and anxiety that lead them to consider leaving the United States and/or stop applying for federal grants. If the situation is not corrected, American science will likely suffer the loss of scientific talent to China and other countries.