I'd say the reason you are leading in score (apart from you beign the best player in this game
) is because
of your land area !
You have what ppl call an "Optimal City Placement"plan and this sort of build is not favoured in PBEMs. In a nutshell :
Because games very rarely go beyond hospitals players feel it is not needed to have cities so far away.
Having them closer (a tight or dense build) not only helps with defense but also with MMing and sharing improved tiles.
More efficiency.
It is, I would say, a very important part of PBEMs.
More later on yoru placement and Science funding !