Publishing PartnershipsPresentation by Mark Robertson

Blackwell Publishing

SSP, June 2006

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What I will cover

• The market for our journal content in China

• Our journals publishing Chinese content for world consumption

• China as a publishing exporter

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Chinese or English as the language of science

• “By 2010 the dominant language of the internet will be Chinese.”– Major Consulting Co advertising, 2001

• “There are currently 110 million Chinese who are learning English compared with roughly 50,000 Americans studying Chinese.”– Kirk and Larsen, Far Eastern Economic Review 2005

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1843 or 2005?

• “At no period in the history of the world has the attention of the civilized nations been so fully directed towards China, its early history and modern position, as at the present moment. The single fact that the nation comprises within its limits a population of 360 millions of human beings is of itself sufficient to awaken the deepest degree of interest”.– Chinese Exhibition Catalogue, Philadelphia 1843

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Chinese academics’ attitudes towards foreign scholarly journals

Section summary

• 93% agree with the statement foreign scholarly journals are important to my work

• Good access to such journals is not uniform: although the majority agree with

the statement I have good access to foreign scholarly journals, 28% disagree.

• 57% agree with the statement I would read foreign scholarly journals more if they

were translated into Chinese.

• 22% tend to read foreign journals more than Chinese journals in print format

• 31% tend to read foreign electronic journals more than Chinese electronic

journals

“The Attitudes of Chinese Academics to Foreign Scholarly Journals” , PA Market Research Report, Mar 05

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Rapid rise in science funding

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1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Year

To

tal S

cien

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Brain gain

“The model is simple: recruit top foreign-trained Chinese and Chinese-American specialists, set them up in well-equipped labs, surround them with the brightest students and give them tremendous leeway. In a minority of cases, they receive American-style pay; in others, they are lured by the cost of living, generous housing and the laboratories. How many have come is unclear.”

Howard French, “China Luring Foreign Scholars To Make Its Universities Great” New York Times I, 28 Oct 05

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Brain drain

“Approximately a third of those who go abroad are returning to China every year. As many as 7.5% of all American PhD holders in science and technology are citizens of the Peoples Republic of China and 25% of these return, up from 15% in recent years… 23 national chief scientists in China are returnees.”

Source: 2004 Statistics of Chinese Scientific and Technical papers, ISTIC 2005

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Annual growth in papers in SCI listed journals

Source: 2004 Statistics of Chinese Scienftific and Technical papers, ISTIC 2005

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Top cited countries in period Jan 95-Aug05

Source: ISI Essential Science Indicators, November 2005

10.11,112,803110,151BELGIUM15

3.321,129,014340,206PEOPLES R CHINA14

11.431,129,56098,816SCOTLAND13

7.521,810,352240,618SPAIN12

11.321,841,611162,696SWEDEN11

13.582,028,778149,375SWITZERLAND10

8.982,086,047232,423AUSTRALIA9

11.882,484,821209,233NETHERLANDS8

8.953,084,580344,759ITALY7

10.553,958,929375,239CANADA6

9.444,847,515513,387FRANCE5

7.765,898,079759,989JAPAN4

9.816,928,683705,953GERMANY3

11.217,097,782633,123ENGLAND2

12.9236,231,4372,803,625USA1

CITATIONSPER PAPER

CITATIONSPAPERSCOUNTRYRank

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Why Chinese authors submit to journals

80%40%40%Good reputation of the journal

73%27%46%Electronic access to the journal

76%30%46%Citation metrics (e.g. impact factor)

87%25%62%High quality peer review process

93%15%78%High quality of the content

Very important + important

ImportantVery importantAttribute

20%17%3%International readership

30%24%6%History of Chinese authors publishing in the journal

37%28%9%Chinese academics on the journal’s editorial board

Not at all important + somewhat

unimportant

Somewhat unimportant

Not at all important

Attribute

Source: Publishers’ Association survey of Chinese authors, March 05, by Key Perspectives

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Reasons for submission by Chinese authors international journals

• Journal has a good reputation 72%• Specific subject area covered by the journal 59%• High impact factor 44%• Fast time to publication 33%• Publisher has a good reputation 24%• Good previous experience with journal 22%• Journal was recommended by a colleague 17%• Journal offers English-language correction service 10%• Relationship with journal, editor or society 9%

Source: Blackwell Publishing survey of Chinese authors to Blackwell journals, June 2005

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Enablers/ barriers to submissions from China

• 94% agree publishing in foreign scholarly journals beneficial to academic career in China

• Yet only 29% submitted to a foreign journal in the past 12 months

• Barriers to submitting articles – 48% said writing in English is not easy, – 45% said publishing in Chinese journals is easier– 36% reported that it can be difficult to communicate with the

publisher– 56% want the publishing process explained more clearly

Source: Publishers’ Association survey of Chinese authors, March 05, by Key Perspectives

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The oldest publishing industry in the world but with the greatest potential

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THANK YOU

Any Questions ?

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