/ France

Scientific dropout: revisiting a debate

On August 26, the Observatory of Science and Technology of the Haut Conseil de l'évaluation de la recherche et de l'enseignement supérieur (Hcéres) published a study on France's scientific decline between 2005 and 2024. Five newspapers covered it within eight days. The figures are identical across all of them: France's share of global publications cut in half, from 4.1% to 1.9%, and its contribution to the top 10% most cited articles down by more than 60%. These figures were used as an argument at the Assises de la recherche in September and will feature in the Cour des comptes report expected at the end of the year.