Has China?s Young Thousand Talents program been successful in recruiting and nurturing top-caliber scientists?

In this study, we examined China's Young Thousand Talents (YTT) program and evaluated its effectiveness in recruiting elite expatriate scientists and in nurturing the returnee scientists' productivity. We find that YTT scientists are generally of high caliber in research but, as a group, fall below the top category in pre-return productivity. We further find that YTT scientists are associated with a post-return publication gain across journal-quality tiers. However, this gain mainly takes place in last-authored publications and for high-caliber (albeit not top-caliber) recruits and can be explained by YTT scientists' access to greater funding and larger research teams. This paper has policy implications for the mobility of scientific talent, especially as early-career scientists face growing challenges in accessing research funding in the United States and European Union

Automated summary

In this study, the effectiveness of China's Young Thousand Talents program in recruiting and nurturing elite expatriate scientists was evaluated. It was found that although Young Thousand Talents scientists had high research caliber, they had lower pre-return productivity compared to top-tier scientists. The study also revealed a post-return publication gain for Young Thousand Talents scientists, mainly in last-authored publications and for high-caliber recruits, which could be attributed to their access to more funding and larger research teams. This paper has policy implications for scientific talent mobility, particularly in light of the challenges faced by early-career scientists in accessing research funding in the United States and European Union.