(15 Nov 2023) Interactions and collaborations between the Chinese research community and international scholarly publishers are as numerous and wide-ranging as at any point in past 20 years, during which China has become the world’s top producer of research papers. Yet in some ways the perception gap between these two groups is widening. Some of our colleagues, peers, and partners in China view open access (OA), research integrity, and the responsibilities of authors, editors, institutions, and publishers quite differently than their counterparts in North America and Europe. Some of this stems from the unique nature of the Chinese research ecosystem, while in other cases, China’s stance points toward a likely evolution of global practices in scholarly publishing. Either way, there is an increasing need to exchange views and come to a more shared understanding of scholarly research and communication.
This is a summary of the STM/CUJS China Symposium, an event sponsored by the STM Association and the China Society of University Journals which took place on October 16th
Key takeaways from the author are:
- China’s increasing concern over APCs suggest that, like the rest of the world, OA in China will likely evolve to encompass several business models, including Gold, Diamond, S2O, and subscription. Further, the subscription business model may not necessarily go away.
- Concerns over Gold OA costs are genuine and increasing. This is a major challenge facing international publishers and the economic constraints facing Chinese research institutions should be acknowledged in business planning. If China can start to benefit from APC revenue, this attitude may change. But even then, it’s safe to say Gold OA will develop differently in China than international publishers might have expected or hoped.
- The international and Chinese scholarly research communities must work together to address the current divergence in views around research integrity if we hope to make real progress in addressing academic misconduct.
- China is keen to continue cooperating with international publishers on OA, research integrity, publisher and author best practices, publishing partnerships, and more. Despite broader geopolitical tensions in recent years, China has repeatedly called for increased international collaboration in scholarly research and publishing, and that message remains consistent from the highest levels of the Chinese government.
Read the article in full from the Scholarly Kitchen here.
