Chinese authorities have reportedly ordered a number of academic journals and magazines to cease publication. In a new attack on sub-standard academic papers in China, the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), the government agency that regulates overseas news and other publications, decided to penalise eight journals and ordered six to cease publication. These include Heilongjiang Science and Technology Information, China High Technology Enterprise and Today's Science Parks.
During a meeting last week, GAPP found that the publications were unable to guarantee the quality of academic papers. The 'punishment' meted out by GAPP to journals that fall short on quality, but are not ordered to be closed, reportedly include reconstituting the editorial board.
The Chinese authorities are determined to increase the supervision and the peer evaluation of academic journals. These are areas in which China is facing criticism internationally. The government reportedly wants to reduce the rapidly increasing number of journals published and bring in more quality control.
In 2010, the Chinese government said that as of January 2011, new regulations would be in place to terminate the publication of poor journals. These would include the consolidation of academic publishing groups into 5-10 large publishers.
According to academics, almost every science organisation in China publishes its own journal. A survey conducted last year by four members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that academic journals can earn tens of millions of yuan a year by charging a publishing fee. The survey estimated the output value of published papers to be 180 to 240 million yuan (US$27.4 to $36.5 million) in 2009.
The National Natural Science Foundation in Beijing has complained for years that low-quality scientific journals have been hindering Chinese science. The Foundation has suggested that as many as a third of them should be shut down.
Other organisations have also openly said that the quality of research papers in China, which can be easily published in sub-standard journals, has been damaging the country's research reputation abroad. China's more reputable journals also have problems with quality. More than 30 percent of papers submitted to the Journal of Zhejiang University-Science, in the two years to September 2010, were found to be plagiarised after the journal brought in special cross-referencing software. The journal is designated as a key academic journal by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
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