CAS launches national scientific journal publishing group

The Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a national scientific journal publishing group on Wednesday, marking a significant step in the country's efforts to build world-class scientific journals.

Officially named Beijing Zhongke Journal Publishing & Media Group Co, the new institution aims to address long-standing structural challenges in China's scientific publishing sector, including small-scale operations, fragmented resources and limited global influence, according to Lu Fangjun, director of the CAS Bureau of Basic Capacity for Science and Technology, at the launch ceremony in Beijing.

These challenges have constrained the capacity of domestic journals to disseminate academic research and enhance their global influence, Lu said.

"The group's launch marks a substantive strategic shift from scattered, institute-run journal operations to fully integrated and intensive publishing. It will pool high-quality journal resources across CAS and even the whole country to create economies of scale and strengthen cluster advantages," Lu said.

Under the new model, which integrates academic expertise with market-oriented operations, the group will handle mid- to back-end publishing processes, including editing, proofreading, typesetting and global dissemination.

The model is designed to free research institutes from routine production work so they can focus on academic planning, attracting high-quality manuscripts and enhancing the academic influence of their journals. By streamlining publishing and dissemination, the group aims to improve the quality and global reach of Chinese scientific publications.

Lu said 68 journals launched by the academy this year are already operating under the model, with their production and dissemination processes managed through the press's independent, in-house publishing platform. The journals include the Data Express series, which is designed to support new research paradigms.

Hu Huaqiang, chairman of China Science Publishing & Media Ltd, the parent company of the newly established publishing group, said the group plans to benchmark itself against international first-class journals and build an international publishing brand from China.

While maintaining high standards for academic content, the group will seek to attract outstanding scientific and technological research and innovations from both China and abroad, Hu said.

The group will also pursue open cooperation and actively integrate into the global academic publishing ecosystem, he said. It will promote open access and open science practices and provide convenient, open and inclusive academic exchange services for the international scientific community.