Chinese Scientists Say Losing Google Would Hurt Research — One Scientist said, ” Research without Google would be like life without electricity…”
Google and China may not be fighting over science, but their feud could have unintended negative consequences for researchers in the country.
A Nature News survey of Chinese scientists found that 84 percent of them thought losing access to Google would “somewhat or significantly” hurt their work process. Like their American counterparts, Chinese researchers use Google and Google Scholar to find papers and related information.
“Research without Google would be like life without electricity,” one Chinese scientist told Nature.
In January, Google announced it would stop following censorship rules required by the Chinese government after its servers came under attack. It remains to be seen whether the Mountain View company will be thrown out of the country for that stance.
