In China at present there are over 4,600 scientific and technological journals published by various academies, universities and institutes. In terms of quantity this may well represent the highest national tally worldwide. However most are in Chinese and so lack impact in international scientific and technological circles. Consequently foreign scientists are not well informed about developments in China. Even Chinese scientists seldom read the domestic journals. They are failing in their role of disseminating information on scientific discoveries and scholarly activities. It is clearly a matter of some importance to Chinese scientific and technological circles that there should be an improvement in the quality and international influence of these journals.
In view of this, China’s Institute of Scientific and Technological Information recently held an expert seminar on the theme ‘How to improve the international influence of China’s scientific and technological journals’.
But how does one evaluate the influence of a journal? Back in 1972 Eugene Garfield, founder of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in Philadelphia, proposed an ‘impact factor’ as a measure of scientific achievement used to evaluate the influence of journals.
The ‘impact factor’ of a journal is a ratio. It is calculated by dividing the number of times the journal is cited as a reference source in other scholarly publications during the current year by the number of original works it published in the previous two years.
According to ISI’s June 27 “Journal Citation Report,” 67 Chinese journals are listed under the Science Citation Index (SCI). Two have an impact factor better than one. These are Cell Research (2.102) and The World Chinese Journal of Digestology (1.445). Both are in their English language versions. However, these two account for only a very small proportion of China’s 4,600 plus journals. Currently, ISI Science Citation Index lists a total of 5,748 journals with an “impact factor” averaging one.
ISI’s Director of Editorial Development is James Testa. He says that SCI has its shortcomings. It only gives an indication of how much interest is being shown in a published paper and not its underlying academic worth.
Mr. Testa visited China by invitation in April. He was very pleased to see the pace of development in China’s science and technology. Although China’s academic journals have been developing quickly in recent years, their academic level still lags behind international standards. Mr. Testa expressed surprise that during his first visit to China in 1997 and again during his recent visit people kept asking him the same question. Officials and editors alike wanted to know when their journals could be listed by SCI.
In his opinion, researchers publish their papers so as to have a wide-ranging exchange with other researchers from home and abroad. This promotes the scientific development of their countries. Editors of scientific and technological journals should regard publication of the best academic articles as their mission rather than pursuing SCI listing.
Zu Guangan is vice-dean of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), which exists to provide financial aid to basic research and to the application of such research. He says that details of research results coming out of the various projects supported by NSFC are primarily published as academic papers in scientific and technological journals. Consequently, the overall caliber of domestic scientific and technological journals is very important to the work of NSFC. He describes the scientific and technological journals of China as presently being at a very low international level. Circulations are small and most papers they carry are of domestic origin. Zu points out that as there is almost no circulation abroad in English versions it is out of question to talk about their international influence. Self-citation is prevalent and many authors are reluctant to cite the work of their domestic counterparts. This all contributes towards the slow development of domestic journals. NSFC is now introducing a series of positive measures to help the domestic academic journals become integrated internationally.
The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) is in charge of the management of domestic scientific and technological journals. Zou Dating, vice-director of the Finance Department of MOST, says administrative departments have many problems in managing domestic journals. There may be an overemphasis on appraisal and approval procedures rather than on the research work itself. Editorial departments may be overstaffed with many nominal editor-in–chiefs and other supernumeraries including “employees” who are actually retired.
The scientific development of China depends on the journals. During the 2001-05 period, the focus for the journals will be on quality improvement. MOST plans to start with a focus on five aspects. The journals should be better structured. Management of the journals will be strengthened. New technologies will be introduced, especially Internet use. There will be a strategy of developing professional expertise.
The problems facing Chinese journals are deep-rooted. They will need to be addressed at a systemic level. The quality of the papers offered for publication must be improved. Editorial and managerial expertise must be further developed. Problems residing in the practices of the researchers when preparing work for publication need to be resolved.
It is impossible for China to become a major force in science and technology in the 21st century without having its own influential journals of international repute.
(china.org.cn by Wang Qian, July 27, 2002)
