2. What I will cover
• The market for our journal content in China
• Our journals publishing Chinese content for world
consumption
• China as a publishing exporter
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3. Chinese or English as the language of science
• “By 2010 the dominant language of the internet will be
Chinese.”
– Major Consulting Co advertising, 2001
• “There are currently 110 million Chinese who are
learning English compared with roughly 50,000
Americans studying Chinese.”
– Kirk and Larsen, Far Eastern Economic Review 2005
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4. 1843 or 2005?
• “At no period in the history of the world has the
attention of the civilized nations been so fully directed
towards China, its early history and modern position,
as at the present moment. The single fact that the
nation comprises within its limits a population of 360
millions of human beings is of itself sufficient to
awaken the deepest degree of interest”.
– Chinese Exhibition Catalogue, Philadelphia 1843
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5. Chinese academics’ attitudes towards foreign
scholarly journals
Section summary
• 93% agree with the statement foreign scholarly journals are important to my work
• Good access to such journals is not uniform: although the majority agree with
the statement I have good access to foreign scholarly journals, 28% disagree.
• 57% agree with the statement I would read foreign scholarly journals more if they
were translated into Chinese.
• 22% tend to read foreign journals more than Chinese journals in print format
• 31% tend to read foreign electronic journals more than Chinese electronic
journals
“The Attitudes of Chinese Academics to Foreign Scholarly Journals” , PA Market
Research Report, Mar 05
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7. Brain gain
“The model is simple: recruit
top foreign-trained Chinese and
Chinese-American specialists,
set them up in well-equipped
labs, surround them with the
brightest students and give
them tremendous leeway. In a
minority of cases, they receive
American-style pay; in others,
they are lured by the cost of
living, generous housing and
the laboratories. How many
have come is unclear.”
Howard French, “China Luring Foreign Scholars To Make
Its Universities Great” New York Times I, 28 Oct 05
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8. Brain drain
“Approximately a third of those who go abroad are
returning to China every year. As many as 7.5% of
all American PhD holders in science and
technology are citizens of the Peoples Republic of
China and 25% of these return, up from 15% in
recent years… 23 national chief scientists in China
are returnees.”
Source: 2004 Statistics of Chinese Scientific and Technical papers, ISTIC 2005
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9. Annual growth in papers in SCI listed journals
Source: 2004 Statistics of Chinese Scienftific and Technical papers, ISTIC 2005
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10. Top cited countries in period Jan 95-Aug05
Ra CITATIONS
COUNTRY PAPERS CITATIONS
nk PER PAPER
1 USA 2,803,625 36,231,437 12.92
2 ENGLAND 633,123 7,097,782 11.21
3 GERMANY 705,953 6,928,683 9.81
4 JAPAN 759,989 5,898,079 7.76
5 FRANCE 513,387 4,847,515 9.44
6 CANADA 375,239 3,958,929 10.55
7 ITALY 344,759 3,084,580 8.95
8 NETHERLANDS 209,233 2,484,821 11.88
9 AUSTRALIA 232,423 2,086,047 8.98
10 SWITZERLAND 149,375 2,028,778 13.58
11 SWEDEN 162,696 1,841,611 11.32
12 SPAIN 240,618 1,810,352 7.52
13 SCOTLAND 98,816 1,129,560 11.43
14 PEOPLES R CHINA 340,206 1,129,014 3.32
15 BELGIUM 110,151 1,112,803 10.1
Source: ISI Essential Science Indicators, November 2005
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11. Why Chinese authors submit to journals
Attribute Very important Important Very important +
important
High quality of the 78% 15% 93%
content
High quality peer 62% 25% 87%
review process
Citation metrics (e.g. 46% 30% 76%
impact factor)
Electronic access to 46% 27% 73%
the journal
Good reputation of the 40% 40% 80%
journal
Attribute Not at all Somewhat Not at all important +
important unimportant somewhat
unimportant
Chinese academics on the 9% 28% 37%
journal’s editorial board
History of Chinese authors 6% 24% 30%
publishing in the journal
International readership 3% 17% 20%
Source: Publishers’ Association survey of Chinese authors, March 05, by Key Perspectives
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12. Reasons for submission by Chinese authors
international journals
• Journal has a good reputation 72%
• Specific subject area covered by the journal 59%
• High impact factor 44%
• Fast time to publication 33%
• Publisher has a good reputation 24%
• Good previous experience with journal 22%
• Journal was recommended by a colleague 17%
• Journal offers English-language correction service 10%
• Relationship with journal, editor or society 9%
Source: Blackwell Publishing survey of Chinese authors to Blackwell journals, June 2005
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13. Enablers/ barriers to submissions from China
• 94% agree publishing in foreign scholarly journals beneficial
to academic career in China
• Yet only 29% submitted to a foreign journal in the past 12
months
• Barriers to submitting articles
– 48% said writing in English is not easy,
– 45% said publishing in Chinese journals is easier
– 36% reported that it can be difficult to communicate with the
publisher
– 56% want the publishing process explained more clearly
Source: Publishers’ Association survey of Chinese authors, March 05, by Key Perspectives
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