18 - Academic journals in China: past, present and future

Abstract

Chinese academic journals were born in the early nineteenth century. During the late Qing Dynasty, a few Chinese academic journals were launched one after another, most of which devoted themselves to disseminating scientific knowledge and Western culture. The Republic of China, founded in 1911 after the bourgeois-democratic revolution, witnessed a steady development of Chinese academic journals. From the late 1920s, academic journals specializing in a certain field came into being continuously, and became a notable feature of journal publishing at the time. The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the reform and opening-up policy of 1979 brought about rapid development for Chinese academic journals. According to recent statistics, the total number of Chinese academic journals is 9549. STM journals account for 50 per cent of this figure, while HSS journals make up around 25 per cent of the total. Regardless of whether they are STM or HSS journals, most Chinese academic journals are located in Beijing and published in Mandarin. From the perspective of pricing, the average prices of STM and HSS titles are 8.82 and 6.72 Chinese Yuan respectively.