Scientific and technical papers are one of the main manifestations of basic research results. By comparing the output of scientific and technical papers between China and the United States, the level and gap of basic research between the two countries can be reflected to a certain extent. Based on the InCites database, the annual change data of the total number of scientific and technical papers, the percentage of highly cited papers and the CNCI index of China and the United States from 2013 to 2022 were compiled and analyzed comparatively. In the past decade, the quantity and quality of China's scientific and technological papers have significantly improved, and the gap between the average funding input per article has gradually narrowed, but the academic average still has a large gap with the United States, and the competitiveness of some key disciplines is relatively weak. In the future, China needs to accurately fund key disciplines, improve the mechanism of multiple investment in basic research, and build an evaluation system that conforms to the laws of basic research and the growth of talents, so as to continuously enhance the level of basic research and promote the self-reliance of high-level science and technology.