Leaders of the China Association for Science and Technology and counterparts at the American Association for the Advancement of Science explored ways to build on a longstanding collaboration between the two scientific organisations through science communication and education partnerships.
During a meeting at AAAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., six CAST representatives highlighted a three-day world conference the organisation is hosting on science literacy in Beijing beginning on Sept. 17. The event will mark the 60th anniversary of CAST, a non-governmental federation of Chinese academic societies, associations and grassroots organisations dedicated to augmenting science literacy throughout China.
Xu Yanhao, a vice president and executive secretary of CAST, voiced particular interest in AAAS’ communication training programs and called on a colleague who heads up such efforts to describe steps taken to advance public understanding of science throughout China.
Bill Moran, publisher of the Science family of journals, discussed another central interest raised by Xu: how Chinese scientists are perceived by editors of leading scientific journals. Last June the number of manuscript submissions from Chinese scientists to scientific journals overall surpassed submissions from U.S. scientists, Moran noted, adding that the Chinese submissions rate overall was just behind the number of submissions from the European Union. A lower proportionate number of papers including Chinese authors have been accepted for publication, he said, but they are growing.
AAAS and CAST have a history of cooperation – a partnership that is among AAAS’ most enduring international collaborations. AAAS first reached out to China’s science, technology and engineering community when the AAAS Board of Directors travelled to China in 1978, a year before the two nations established diplomatic relations. Since then, AAAS and CAST have continued to seek ways to deepen mutual engagement between scientists and engineers.
The 1978 meeting cleared the way for the organisations to reach their first formal agreement in 2007. The collaboration put in place joint publishing projects that resulted in a collection of scientific research papers, first published in Science, being translated and distributed in China and a set of science literacy materials developed by AAAS’ Project 2061, a science literacy program, being translated and posted on a CAST website. In 2016, AAAS renewed the agreement for five years.
Among other joint efforts, EurekAlert!, an online news service of AAAS, has provided science communication seminars to CAST’s public information officers. AAAS has also collaborated with CAST on issues of scientific integrity and professional ethics.
The meeting between AAAS and CAST representatives comes at a time of bilateral tensions between the United States and China. The White House has proposed implementing tariffs on Chinese goods and limiting Chinese investments, particularly those related to the U.S. technological innovation sector, in a move intended to better protect U.S. intellectual property.
The Chinese government has recently mandated that all scientific data collected in China be turned over to government-approved data centers before appearing in publication, an action about which the U.S. National Science Foundation raised concerns.
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