How are the new wave of Chinese researchers shaping up in scholarly communication terms?
Main Article Content
Abstract
The study investigates the attitudes and practices of Chinese early career researchers (ECRs) in regard to all scholarly aspects, providing the findings in the context of the academic assessment policies change in China over the last decade. The data were gathered by means of an online questionnaire survey, which obtained 263 Chinese ECRs’ responses. The main conclusions are: (a) journal-based indicators (e.g. journal reputation, Journal Impact Factor, Science Citation Index, etc.) are crucial when Chinese ECRs read and publish; (b) assessment policy plays a vital role when Chinese ECRs decide where to publish; (c) open access and open data have been widely recognized and warmly welcomed by Chinese ECRs, however, they will only publish in open access journals and open their research data if they get rewarded by the evaluation system; (d) most Chinese ECRs had good experience of peer review and they are in favor of double blind peer review; (e) Chinese ECRs are heavy users of social media, they are sophisticated in finding scholarly information online and communicating with peers and colleagues with social media tools.
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Xu, J., Chen, D., He, C., Zeng, Y., Nicholas, D., & Wang, Z. (2020). How are the new wave of Chinese researchers shaping up in scholarly communication terms?. Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science, 25(3), 49–70. https://doi.org/10.22452/mjlis.vol25no3.4
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References
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Jamali, H.R., Nicholas, D., Watkinson, A., Abrizah, A., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., Boukacem‐Zeghmouri, C. and Świgon, M. 2020. Early career researchers and their authorship and peer review beliefs and practices: An international study. Learned Publishing, Vol.33, no.2: 142-152.
Jiang, X. 2017. Universities explore unique features under 'double first-class' plan. Available at: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-03/15/content_28566811.htm.
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Nicholas, D., Boukacem‐Zeghmouri, C., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., Xu, J., Watkinson, A., Abrizah, A. and Świgoń, M. 2017. Where and how early career researchers find scholarly information. Learned Publishing, Vol.30, no.1: 19-29.
Nicholas, D., Herman, E., Jamali, H.R., Abrizah, A., Boukacem-Zeghmouri, C., Xu, J. and Świgon, M. 2020a.
Millennial researchers in a metric-driven scholarly world: An international study. Research Evaluation, Vol.29, no.3: 263-274.
Nicholas, D., Jamali, H.R., Herman, E., Watkinson, A., Abrizah, A., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., and Polezhaeva, T. 2020b. A global questionnaire survey of the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours of early career researchers. Learned Publishing, Vol.33, no.3: 198-211.
Nicholas, D., Jamali, H.R., Watkinson, A., Herman, E., Tenopir, C., Volentine, R. and Levine, K. 2015. Do younger researchers assess trustworthiness differently when deciding what to read and cite and where to publish. International Journal of Knowledge Content Development and Technology, Vol.5, no.2: 46-53.
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Qiu, C. 2017. Applying for research grant becomes the greatest burden to chinese early career researchers. Chinese Youth Daily, 31 May, 3.
Qiu, C., Su, W. and Cai, N. 2017. Chao liucheng qingnian kexuejia meizhou gongzuo 50 xiaoshi yishang [Over 60% of young scientists work more than 50 hours a week]. Available at: http://news.cyol.com/content/2017-05/31/content_16131255.htm
Quan, W., Chen, B. and Shu, F. 2017. Publish or impoverish: An investigation of the monetary reward system of science in China (1999–2016). Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol.69, no.5: 486-502.
Ren, X. 2015. The quandary between communication and certification: Individual academics' view on Open Access and open scholarship. Online Information Review, Vol.39, no.5: 628-697.
Schewe, C.D., Debevec, K., Madden, T.J., Diamond, W.D., Parment, A. and Murphy, A. 2013. “If you've seen one, you've seen them all!” Are young millennials the same worldwide? Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol.25, no.1: 3-15.
Schonfeld, R.C. 2015. Scholarly societies and scholarly communication: A look ahead. College & Research Libraries, Vol.76, no.3: 406-410.
Silver, L. 2019. Smartphone ownership is growing rapidly around the world, but not always equally. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/02/05/ smartphone-ownership-is-growing-rapidly-around-the-world-but-not-always-equally/.
Spezi, V. 2016. Is information-seeking behavior of doctoral students changing?: A review of the literature (2010–2015). New Review of Academic Librarianship, Vol.22, no.1: 78-106.
Taylor, P. and Keeter, S. 2010. Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to change. Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/ sites/3/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf.
Tenopir, C., Dalton, E., Christian, L., Jones, M., McCabe, M., Smith, M. and Fish, A. 2017. Imagining a gold open access future: Attitudes, behaviors, and funding scenarios among authors of academic scholarship. College & Research Libraries, Vol.78, no.6: 824-843.
Tenopir, C., Levine, K., Allard, S., Christian, L., Volentine, R., Boehm, R. and Watkinson, A. 2016. Trustworthiness and authority of scholarly information in a digital age: Results of an international questionnaire. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Vol.67, no.10: 2344-2361.
Tenopir, C., Sandusky, R.J., Allard, S. and Birch, B. 2014. Research data management services in academic research libraries and perceptions of librarians. Library & Information Science Research, Vol.36, no.2: 84-90.
Tollefson, J. 2018. China declared world’s largest producer of scientific articles. Nature, Vol.553, no.7689: 390.
Woyke, E. 2018. China is racing ahead in 5G. Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/18/66300/china-is-racing-ahead-in-5g-heres-what-it-means/.
Xinhua. 2017. Chinese theses cited 19.4 mln times in past decade. ChinaDaily. Available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-11/01/content_33967494.htm.
Xu, J. 2020. How China’s new policy may change researchers’ publishing behavior. Available at: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2020/03/03/guest-post-how-chinas-new- policy-may-change-researchers-publishing-behavior/.
Xu, J., He, C., Su, J., Zeng, Y., Wang, Z., Fang, F. and Tang, W. 2020. Chinese researchers' perceptions and use of open access journals: Results of an online questionnaire survey. Learned Publishing, Vol.33, no.3: 246-258.
Xu, J., Nicholas, D., Su, J. and Zeng, Y. 2016. Are open access journals trusted by Chinese scholars? Wuhan Daxue Xuebao (Xinxi Kexue Ban)/Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University, Vol.41: 131-135.
Xu, J., Nicholas, D., Zeng, Y., Su, J. and Watkinson, A. 2018. Chinese early-career researchers' scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours: Changes observed in year two of a longitudinal study. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, Vol.49, no.3: 320-344.
Xu, J., Yang, T., Cong, T. and Zeng, Y. 2015. Use of social networking sites among Chinese and American researchers: A comparative study. Journal of Scholarly Publishing,Vol.47, no.1: 60-76.
Zhang, L. and Sivertsen, G. 2020. The new research assessment reform in China and its implementation. Scholarly Assessment Reports, Vol.2, no.1: 3.
Zhang, X. 2016. Xi Jingping zhuchi zhaokai zhongyang quanmian shenhua gaige lingdao xiaozu di 29 ci huiyi [Xi Jinping chairs 29th meeting of central leading group for comprehensively deepening reforms]. Available at: http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-11/01/ content_5127202.htm.
Zhao, L. 2014. Riding the wave of open access: Providing library research support for scholarly publishing literacy. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, Vol.45, no.1: 3-18.
Zheng, W., Wu, Y.J. and Lv, Y. 2019. More descriptive norms, fewer diversions: Boosting Chinese researcher performance through social media. Library Hi Tech, Vol.37, no.1: 72-87.
Zhou, J. 2019. Reflections and suggestions on the development strategy for young scientific and technological talents. Science & Technology Review, Vol.31, no.12: 97-101.
Abrizah, A., Shah, N.A.K. and Nicholas, D. 2019. Malaysian early career researchers on the ethic of scholarly publishing. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, Vol.24, no.1: 75-96.
Anderson, J. and Rainie, L. 2010. Millennials will make online sharing in networks a lifelong habit. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2010/07/09/ millennials-will-make-online-sharing-in-networks-a-lifelong-habit/.
Blankstein, M. and Wolff-Eisenberg, C. 2019. Ithaka S+R US faculty survey 2018. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.311199.
China Power Team. 2018. Is China a global leader in research and development? Available at: https://chinapower.csis.org/china-research-and-development-rnd.
CIBER. 2016a. Early career researchers: The harbingers of change? Literature review. Available at: http://ciber-research.eu/download/20160901-Harbingers-ECRs_ literature_review.pdf.
CIBER. 2016b. Early career researchers: The harbingers of change? Comparative national findings (2016). Available at: http://www.ciber-research.eu/download/20160901- Harbingers-comparative%5fdetailedresults.pdf.
CIBER Research Ltd. 2018. Early career researchers: The harbingers of change? Final report. Available at: http://ciber-research.eu/download/20181218-Harbingers3_Final_ Report-Nov2018.pdf.
Deng, D., Li, L., Shi, H., Gao, X., Liu, C. and Zhang, L. 2015. What are the scientific researchers’ expectations. Guang Ming Daily, 23 January, 5.
Deng, H. 2013. Qingnian jiaoshi zhan jiaoshi zongshu bi da 62%, jingyu ganga cheng biaoqian [Young teachers account for 62% of the total number of teachers in China’s universities]. Available at: https://edu.qq.com/a/20130813/002071.htm.
Friesenhahn, I. and Beaudry, C. 2014. The global state of young scientists: Project report and recommendations. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Jamali, H.R., Nicholas, D., Watkinson, A., Abrizah, A., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., Boukacem‐Zeghmouri, C. and Świgon, M. 2020. Early career researchers and their authorship and peer review beliefs and practices: An international study. Learned Publishing, Vol.33, no.2: 142-152.
Jiang, X. 2017. Universities explore unique features under 'double first-class' plan. Available at: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-03/15/content_28566811.htm.
Jones, P. 2014. Phill Jones on the changing role of the postdoc and why publishers should care. Available at: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/10/06/guest-post- phill-jones-on-the-changing-role-of-the-postdoc-and-why-publishers-should-care/.
Joseph, H. 2013. The open access movement grows up: Taking stock of a revolution. PLOS Biology, Vol.11, no.10: e1001686.
Lewis, D.W. 2012. The inevitability of open access. College & Research Libraries, Vol.73, no.5: 493-506.
Ministry of Science & Technology. 2019a. Zhongguo keji rencai fazhan baogao 2018 [China science and technology talent development report 2018]. Available at: http://www.most.gov.cn/kjbgz/201907/t20190712_147631.htm.
Ministry of Science & Technology. 2019b. Woguo keji renli ziyuan fazhan zhuangkuang fenxi [Analysis of domestic S&T human resources]. Available at: http://www.most.gov.cn/xxgk/xinxifenlei/fdzdgknr/kjtjbg/kjtj2019/201904/P020190409331955003970.pdf.
Morrison, H. 2017. From the field: Elsevier as an open access publisher. The Charleston Advisor, Vol.18, no.3: 53-59.
National Center for Science & Technology Evaluation and Clarivate Analytics. 2017. China’s international scientific research collaboration: A bibliometric analysis. Available at: http://www.ncste.org/uploads/www/201712/200927279unk.pdf.
Nature Index. 2017. Over 50% of China’s high-quality research involves international co-authors. Available at: http://www.stm-publishing.com/nature-index-over-50-of- chinas-high-quality-research-involves-international-co-authors/.
Nature Publishing Group. 2015. Turning point: Chinese science in transition. Available at: https://static.springer.com/sgw/documents/1535770/application/pdf/Turning+Point%E2%80%94Chinese+Science+in+Transition.EN.NPG.pdf.
Nicholas, D., Boukacem‐Zeghmouri, C., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., Xu, J., Watkinson, A., Abrizah, A. and Świgoń, M. 2017. Where and how early career researchers find scholarly information. Learned Publishing, Vol.30, no.1: 19-29.
Nicholas, D., Herman, E., Jamali, H.R., Abrizah, A., Boukacem-Zeghmouri, C., Xu, J. and Świgon, M. 2020a.
Millennial researchers in a metric-driven scholarly world: An international study. Research Evaluation, Vol.29, no.3: 263-274.
Nicholas, D., Jamali, H.R., Herman, E., Watkinson, A., Abrizah, A., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., and Polezhaeva, T. 2020b. A global questionnaire survey of the scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours of early career researchers. Learned Publishing, Vol.33, no.3: 198-211.
Nicholas, D., Jamali, H.R., Watkinson, A., Herman, E., Tenopir, C., Volentine, R. and Levine, K. 2015. Do younger researchers assess trustworthiness differently when deciding what to read and cite and where to publish. International Journal of Knowledge Content Development and Technology, Vol.5, no.2: 46-53.
Nicholas, D., Watkinson, A., Boukacem‐Zeghmouri, C., Rodríguez‐Bravo, B., Xu, J., Abrizah, A. and Herman, E. 2019. So, are early career researchers the harbingers of change? Learned Publishing, Vol.32, no.3: 237-247.
Qiu, C. 2017. Applying for research grant becomes the greatest burden to chinese early career researchers. Chinese Youth Daily, 31 May, 3.
Qiu, C., Su, W. and Cai, N. 2017. Chao liucheng qingnian kexuejia meizhou gongzuo 50 xiaoshi yishang [Over 60% of young scientists work more than 50 hours a week]. Available at: http://news.cyol.com/content/2017-05/31/content_16131255.htm
Quan, W., Chen, B. and Shu, F. 2017. Publish or impoverish: An investigation of the monetary reward system of science in China (1999–2016). Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol.69, no.5: 486-502.
Ren, X. 2015. The quandary between communication and certification: Individual academics' view on Open Access and open scholarship. Online Information Review, Vol.39, no.5: 628-697.
Schewe, C.D., Debevec, K., Madden, T.J., Diamond, W.D., Parment, A. and Murphy, A. 2013. “If you've seen one, you've seen them all!” Are young millennials the same worldwide? Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol.25, no.1: 3-15.
Schonfeld, R.C. 2015. Scholarly societies and scholarly communication: A look ahead. College & Research Libraries, Vol.76, no.3: 406-410.
Silver, L. 2019. Smartphone ownership is growing rapidly around the world, but not always equally. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/02/05/ smartphone-ownership-is-growing-rapidly-around-the-world-but-not-always-equally/.
Spezi, V. 2016. Is information-seeking behavior of doctoral students changing?: A review of the literature (2010–2015). New Review of Academic Librarianship, Vol.22, no.1: 78-106.
Taylor, P. and Keeter, S. 2010. Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to change. Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/ sites/3/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf.
Tenopir, C., Dalton, E., Christian, L., Jones, M., McCabe, M., Smith, M. and Fish, A. 2017. Imagining a gold open access future: Attitudes, behaviors, and funding scenarios among authors of academic scholarship. College & Research Libraries, Vol.78, no.6: 824-843.
Tenopir, C., Levine, K., Allard, S., Christian, L., Volentine, R., Boehm, R. and Watkinson, A. 2016. Trustworthiness and authority of scholarly information in a digital age: Results of an international questionnaire. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Vol.67, no.10: 2344-2361.
Tenopir, C., Sandusky, R.J., Allard, S. and Birch, B. 2014. Research data management services in academic research libraries and perceptions of librarians. Library & Information Science Research, Vol.36, no.2: 84-90.
Tollefson, J. 2018. China declared world’s largest producer of scientific articles. Nature, Vol.553, no.7689: 390.
Woyke, E. 2018. China is racing ahead in 5G. Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/18/66300/china-is-racing-ahead-in-5g-heres-what-it-means/.
Xinhua. 2017. Chinese theses cited 19.4 mln times in past decade. ChinaDaily. Available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-11/01/content_33967494.htm.
Xu, J. 2020. How China’s new policy may change researchers’ publishing behavior. Available at: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2020/03/03/guest-post-how-chinas-new- policy-may-change-researchers-publishing-behavior/.
Xu, J., He, C., Su, J., Zeng, Y., Wang, Z., Fang, F. and Tang, W. 2020. Chinese researchers' perceptions and use of open access journals: Results of an online questionnaire survey. Learned Publishing, Vol.33, no.3: 246-258.
Xu, J., Nicholas, D., Su, J. and Zeng, Y. 2016. Are open access journals trusted by Chinese scholars? Wuhan Daxue Xuebao (Xinxi Kexue Ban)/Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University, Vol.41: 131-135.
Xu, J., Nicholas, D., Zeng, Y., Su, J. and Watkinson, A. 2018. Chinese early-career researchers' scholarly communication attitudes and behaviours: Changes observed in year two of a longitudinal study. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, Vol.49, no.3: 320-344.
Xu, J., Yang, T., Cong, T. and Zeng, Y. 2015. Use of social networking sites among Chinese and American researchers: A comparative study. Journal of Scholarly Publishing,Vol.47, no.1: 60-76.
Zhang, L. and Sivertsen, G. 2020. The new research assessment reform in China and its implementation. Scholarly Assessment Reports, Vol.2, no.1: 3.
Zhang, X. 2016. Xi Jingping zhuchi zhaokai zhongyang quanmian shenhua gaige lingdao xiaozu di 29 ci huiyi [Xi Jinping chairs 29th meeting of central leading group for comprehensively deepening reforms]. Available at: http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-11/01/ content_5127202.htm.
Zhao, L. 2014. Riding the wave of open access: Providing library research support for scholarly publishing literacy. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, Vol.45, no.1: 3-18.
Zheng, W., Wu, Y.J. and Lv, Y. 2019. More descriptive norms, fewer diversions: Boosting Chinese researcher performance through social media. Library Hi Tech, Vol.37, no.1: 72-87.
Zhou, J. 2019. Reflections and suggestions on the development strategy for young scientific and technological talents. Science & Technology Review, Vol.31, no.12: 97-101.