South Korea ranked 14th in the world in terms of the number of scientific papers published last year.

The Ministry of Science and Technology cited data compiled by U.S.-based Thomson Institute for Scientific Information that placed South Korea in 14th place for the fourth straight year. The nation’s ranking was 21st in 1996 and 16th in 2000.

Of the published papers, South Korea placed third in the number of information technology and communications papers, fourth in electronic engineering and sixth in mechanics.

According to the ministry, the country published around 23-thousand papers around the world last year, up more than 19 percent from 2004.

The United States topped the list with around 300-thousand followed by Britain with some 79-thousand.

Among Asian countries, Japan came in the lead, coming in third in the world overall, while China ranked fifth and India 12th.