Changes And Development Of Scientific Journals In Chinese Universities Since Reform And Opening-up

Both data statistics and case analysis are adopted to survey the start and resume publication of the 1276 scientific journals in Chinese Universities, sponsored by institutions of higher education from the perspective of communication of science. Based on the fluctuation of the start and resume publication, its development can mainly be categorized into four stages, which are the recovery time on the eve of the reform and opening-up(1977-1978), the first expansion in the early years of the reform and opening-up(1979-1988), the stable period(1989-1999) and the leaping development and predominant of the exquisite periodicals (2000-2013). Meanwhile, the representative journal or different types of journals in each development phase are selected to trace their four functions of revealing the history of science, science and technology support, academic teaching and the inheritance of science technology and culture. What is more, the evolvement rules are surveyed from the discipline distribution, regional distribution, the publication purpose, and the network communication and the transmission mode of information construction, the change of editing and publication form and management mode. On this basis, coping strategies are put forward and effort is made to answer how do the science and technology journals of universities deal with the internationalization, the arrested development of the domestic journals and the pressure of the outflow of the excellent results.The study show that, firstly, the 1020 scientific journals in Chinese universities mainly focused on four kinds, namely, the medical (407 species), comprehensive natural science (310),engineering (254) and agronomy (103), accounting for 84.2% of the total, which is consistent with the national policy made in the period of the reform and opening up when the key issue is the national medical, health undertakings, complete sets of imported engineering equipment, attaching great importance to the foundation of natural science research and agriculture based. The location for the the start and resume publication centers mainly in the bases for higher education, namely, Beijing, Shaanxi, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shanghai and so on. As for the time features, the climax for the foundation of journals is from 1979 to 1988, when the largest expansion of sci-tech periodicals in colleges and universities occurred. The universities of Project 21 land Program 985 are the main force for publication. At the same time, as much as seventy-one English journals began to appear in the eastern coastal area since 1978, which shows the new trend of international academic integration.Secondly,3 340 science and technology papers of the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering are published in seven universities, which are Journal of Tsinghua University (Science and Technology), Journal of Peking University (Science and Technology) Journal of Zhejiang University (Chinese and English version) Journal of Nanjing University (Natural Science edition), Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Journal of Fudan University (Natural Science), Journal of China University of Science and Technology. Before the introduction of SCI oriented evaluation system of science and technology in 1978 to the late 1980 s, it enjoyed the largest number of publication, accounting for 32.7%, among which the authors of the paper account for 71.3% of 369 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering in 7 universities. It shows that the normal state of the natural scientific journals of Chinese universities before the evaluation system is introduced which is in accordance with the advantage discipline of these universities. The comparison of the academicians' publishment before and after they were elected also highlights the university journals'unique role in academic and discipline education.In the third place, after the introduction of SCI oriented evaluation system of science and technology in the late 1980s, many famous universities have launched the "Thousand Paper Project" and formulated a series of incentives to publish in SCI. To make it worse, it is even generalized to the sci-tech periodical evaluation, evaluation of authorized disciplines and specialities conferring an academic degree, the evaluation of graduates, the evaluation for teachers' titles, university ranking, academician selection, the "Thousand Talents Program", the state fund evaluation, national reward and many other fields. It made the the total number of articles from China increased from 4 880 in 1987 to 263 500 in 2014, ranking the second largest in the world for six years in a row,among which colleges and universities' contribution rate is above 80%. It demonstrates that the scientific evaluation system dominated by SCI has profounder influence on colleges and universities than that of other business units, but one of the biggest cost is the outflow of large number of first-class paper in scientific journals in Chinese universities.Fourthly, the assessment of top quality, excellence, speciality held by the ministry of education of Chinese since 2009 aims to highlight the special groups, with the construction of high-quality periodicals to rid the shadow of the SCl. Nevertheless, they sink into the stereotype again, journals cited by SCI entered into the high-quality automatically at the beginning of selection. Then the threshold increased gradually, and an increasing emphasis is put on SCI, but it is clearly a kind of effective and meaningful correction, as universities of Project 211 and Program 985 take up the vast majority of the high-quality periodicals, and those which won the award for more than three consecutive times accounted for 62%. It indicates that scientific journals in Chinese universities represented by high-quality periodicals enjoy relative stability, and they lead the new trend in scientific journals of China's universities.It is concluded that,firstly,1020 scientific journals of the total 1276 are the result of the Reform and Opening-up,after the evolvement track of recovery?scale expansion ?stable growth?transformation,scientific journals in universities have realized transformation from the publication mode of scale expansion early stage of reform and opening up to the transformation of quality journal, network communication and internationalization in the new century. Chinese universities have gradually formed the publication trend in One-third of the world with Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Association,establishing a particular journal group which is based on scientific and technological disciplines and academic education, closest to the authors and readers, reflecting the teaching and academic of the university. Introversion is more obvious in the high-level universities,effect on the discipline construction and personnel training is more obvious.Such as, Journal of Tsinghua University (Science and Technology).published Wen shizhu's more than 40 articles,and the album of Tribology.After that, the periodical Friction was founded in the Tsinghua University,becoming the Tribology Research Center and Wen shizhu elected Vice President of Committee of STLE, effectively promoting the construction and development of the discipline of Tribology. Zhao Bailin academician continuous issuing in Journal of Peking University (Natural Science Edition) for 48 years, the masterpiece of Liao Shantao, Including the outcome of the National Natural Science Prize, almost all published in this journal, all shows that journals of University of Science and Technology play an important role on the support of discipline construction and the cultivation of the science top talents.Secondly,the formulation of evaluation mechanism of SCI is solely based on periodical subscription. Its improper expansion at various levels of higher education directly leads to the ecological imbalance of the development of Chinese university scientific periodicals, considering the facts that the academic arena forged by masters in science fields now seems to be devastated, while national autonomous innovation and mass innovation are now at stake. On the one hand, more and more Chines academic articles, as outputs of scientific activities are included in the SCI, raising China's academic status higher in the international society. On the other hand, the inappropriate expansion of SCI in the scientific research appraisal, to certain extents, compels Chinese researchers to publish in SCI included journals which are normally overseas, leaving domestic journals a lower status and poorer quality, functioning locale for publishing papers without sound quality and written by faculties and even postgraduates. What is more, Chinese scholars are paying as much as RMB 250 million for publishing in international journals. Obviously, these problems go against the reform and development of Chinese higher education, the implementation of national key strategies such as mass innovation, China's comprehensive competitiveness, the enhancement of core competitiveness, as well as the development of university knowledge service industry.In the third place,internet communication, digital publication, distinctive journals jointly represent the new trend of university technical periodicals in the 21 century. Under the Internet logic, the periodicals are confronted with challenges and transformation brought out journal publication modal characterized by digitization, globalization, and specialization. Under the brand new normative climate of publication, university technical periodical may face new issues in relation to traditional conventions and new developments. In addition to further advancements of Internet communication under the Cloud Framework, technologies such as XML and Wechat are also employed in the field of technical periodical publication, contributing a higher efficiency of the communication. Unprecedented problems, therefore, encapsulate cluster development, coping with international competition, digitization development, the display rate of standard articles, the clarification of authors' contribution, and the enhancement of dissemination of periodicals'contents. In turn, they make a myriad of agendas imperative:management upgrading, philosophy of running the periodicals, dissemination channels, cultivating the awareness of being distinguished and distinctive, and continuously improving publication industry with the assistance of new technologies, which will determine the future direction of university technical periodicals.Fourthly,university technical periodicals play an irreplaceable role in the training of young teachers and postgraduates, in the creation, accumulation and transmitting of university disciplinary construction, and in the production and dissemination of knowledge in higher education. It has demonstrated power functions in terms of educating students, developing disciplines, as well as window effects. It can be irrefutably proved by the century-long history of journals exemplified by Tsinghua Journal. Theoretically, it shows that a university in purest sense is a spiritual homeland for intellectuals, a locale for producing knowledge and thoughts, which would not take social effect nor be passed on to the next generations until they are transcribed into words and publish via certain media. It is the logical foundation of the presence and existence of university technical periodicals. In this sense, the periodicals constitute a part of the spiritual homeland for both university faculties and students, a most prominent terminal of knowledge and thoughts production.At present, it has become an integral part of Chinese contemporary higher education, a pivotal component of national scientific and technological development, cultural soft power, and comprehensive competitiveness. It also serves as an important media carrier of national autonomous innovation. Therefore, we should rediscover and excavate the effects and potential of university technical periodicals, making it an important place for knowledge innovation in the universities. In this process, SCI should not act as the overwhelming and solely determining factor, and therefore the evaluation mechanism oriented by SCI should be abandoned. Scholars should be encouraged to publish in the domestic journals in their native language, and the strength to support distinguished Chinese technical periodicals should be substantially promoted. The localization of technical periodicals and national autonomous innovation strategies should be actively pushed forward. The original ecology of university technical periodicals should be restored and historical lessons should be reminded. On the basis of keeping a good quality of paper-copy journals, stress should be paid to the Internet-mediated journals whose subscriptions may be as hundreds or even thousands of times higher than those of paper-copies. The success or failure Informationalization should be taken as the key of the competition of modern university technical periodicals. We should put priority to internet communication, digital publication, and distinctive journals. For the purpose of breakthroughs, survival and development, we should regress to the original yet seek for innovation, actively dealing with challenges brought by clustering, internationalization, specialization, marketization, virtualization, networking, to create a better future. That confirms the proverb "The roots should be properly consolidated if a tree is expected to grow tall; the spring source should be properly dredged if a streams is expected to drift far. Therefore the primary should be prioritized, which would consequently mobile the subordinate".