STM and CAST Joint Report Reveals Findings and Implications of Open Access Publishing in China
The International Association of STM Publishers and the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) collaborated on a report called “Open Access Publishing in China,” which was released in December 2022. Mark Robertson, a consultant to the STM Association, discusses the report’s findings and their impact on the scholarly publishing industry, as well as the background of the collaboration between STM and CAST, in the interview, published at The Scholarly Kitchen. The highlights of which are as follows:
The report was made possible through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the CAST and the STM in 2021. The report aims to bring together the scholarly communications community in China by presenting a comprehensive overview of open-access publishing, policies, and initiatives in the country.
The report is organized around four themes, and each section presents different findings and takeaways. The first section, “Open access as practiced globally,” serves as an introduction to open-access publishing and provides an overview of its accelerating growth globally. The second section, “Open access publishing in China,” includes a large amount of data on publishing activity in China and references various policies and initiatives to promote open science. It also covers the different publishing models for open access used by publishers in China. The third section, “Research integrity in open access publishing,” sets up a dialogue between STM and CAST on the critical issues of research integrity and how China is grappling with similar problems as global publishers. Finally, the fourth section showcases case examples of collaborations between STM members and publishers, institutions, and journals in China.
The report’s implications for the scholarly publishing industry are positive, given the growing trend of researchers in China publishing Gold open access articles in international journals. China has a large domestic publishing program, and its evolution to open access is covered in the report. Moreover, the report shows that many exciting partnerships are underway for the benefit of researchers in China and globally.
The editorial process for the report involved a small editorial group that invited contributions from both STM and CAST team members, as well as other organizations and publishers. Any content written in Chinese was translated into English, and vice versa. CAST used a panel of external advisors, while STM consulted internally. The editorial team managed the workflow and discussed any areas that could be confusing in either language. The report draws on many sources, and where new or derivative work was undertaken, the datasets are available upon request.
In conclusion, the joint report on open access in China is a valuable resource for the scholarly communications community in China and beyond. It provides a comprehensive overview of open-access publishing and policies in China and showcases exciting collaborations between publishers, institutions, and journals in China. The report’s implications for the scholarly publishing industry are positive, and STM and CAST plan to continue working together for the benefit of publishers worldwide.
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