China has released a global high-quality journal list covering medicine and life sciences, marking a step toward developing an independent framework for academic journal evaluation. The list was jointly compiled by Dongbi Technology Data Co., Ltd., the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The dataset includes 4,027 medical journals and 3,064 life sciences journals, offering a structured reference for researchers, institutions, and research management bodies. The list is intended to guide journal selection for manuscript submission, support institutional research assessment, and inform the optimization of journal classification systems.
The compilation process was based on global citation data collected between 2023 and 2025, using a set of authoritative seed journals as the foundation. Journals were categorized into four tiers, forming a hierarchical structure. Tier A represents top-tier publications, while Tiers B and C include core academic journals. Tier D captures emerging and specialized areas within the disciplines.
The tiered framework is designed to provide a more nuanced understanding of journal quality and influence, supporting decision-making across research and academic evaluation processes. It also reflects an effort to incorporate diverse perspectives into global scholarly publishing assessment.
The release of the list is positioned as part of broader initiatives to strengthen China’s role in academic evaluation and enhance visibility within global scholarly publishing. By establishing an independently developed reference system, the initiative contributes to ongoing discussions around research assessment standards and the diversification of evaluation metrics in scholarly publications.
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