Quality of Chinese science exploding, editor says

China now faces challenge of establishing a broad base of top research

China is exerting an ever-growing presence in the world of scientific research, but the country's first-tier cities continue to be over-represented in the papers produced for publication, a world-leading publisher says.

Emilie Marcus, editor-in-chief and CEO of Cell Press, which publishes biomedical and life science journals and reviews, says she is amazed at the fast growth of the quality of Chinese science.

"For the past 15 years I have been watching the growth of Chinese science," says Marcus, a PhD graduate in neurobiology at Yale University.

"At Cell Press we see that the growth and quality of Chinese science is exploding. It is very exciting what is happening here scientifically, particularly in the area of cancer research. China is becoming a leading player in the science world, second only to the United States in the number of research articles published. Cell Press has undertaken a number of new initiatives in an effort to work more closely with the research community in China."

But Xiaohong Helena Yang, senior editor and editorial development advisor for Cell Press, says most papers submitted to their journals are from first-tier cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai. China now faces the challenge of how to establish a broad base of top-quality research.

"Just based on the publications and journals we receive from China, I think there is still a gap in terms of quality and quantity between those first-tier cities, with so many resources and so much talent concentrated in those areas, and some other cities outside those regions. We are actively working on promoting research quality and quantity in those areas."

Cell Press was originally founded in 1986 in the United States and was bought by Elsevier of the Netherlands, an international publishing company, in 1998 and became an imprint of Elsevier. Marcus first visited China in 2000. Over the years Cell Press has maintained close contact with Chinese scientific feilds.

Building a broad base of high-quality science is a long and arduous task, Marcus says, and Cell Press' aim in China is not only to publish more papers from the top institutions but also to play a more active role in promoting research across China.

"Our goals are to accelerate discovery and translation of basic knowledge, foster innovation-driven science, promote rigorous research and increase the standard and global visibility of publications from China."

To further strengthen collaboration between Chinese and foreign scientists, Cell Press chose Beijing as the venue for its first symposium in Asia - Cell Symposia Hallmarks of Cancer: Asia. The meeting, held last month, and which Marcus and Yang attended, brought together many global leaders in the field of cancer research and had more delegates and attendees than any of its previous meetings.

"When we were talking about a meeting focusing on cancer research in Asia, Beijing seemed like the best place to have it," Marcus says. "Many scientists came from within China. It was a very good opportunity for international scientists to come together and for Cell Press to help facilitate the interactions and exchanges."

Marcus says Chinese science has changed markedly over the past 15 years. The biggest change, she says, is that the country's scholars and scientists have become much more open to the outside world and are engaging much more in international collaboration.

"Chinese academics more actively participate in collaborative projects, travel more frequently to international meetings and exchange students with other laboratories. When I first came here in 2000 they were just trying to build that collaboration and interaction with the outside world."

Marcus says the more intensive international dealings have increased and boosted Chinese scientists' research capabilities, and the rate of acceptance by Cell Press of Chinese research papers has increased over the past three or four years.

This year submissions from Chinese institutions have accounted for more than 8 percent of submissions to Cell Press research journals, including partnership journals, 24 percent higher than in the corresponding period from last year, according to its data.

By the end of October 100 papers from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong institutions had been accepted, compared with 67 in the corresponding period last year. Last year, Cell Press says, it accepted 30 papers from the Chinese mainland; 14 years ago it accepted just one.

Marcus says that while it is clear that China has gained a lot of recognition worldwide because of its strength of biomedical research, there is still room for it to grow.

"If you look at major Chinese cities and institutions, their science is now on par with the rest of the world. But I am disappointed that it is still focused on certain universities and institutions so it may take longer for the quality of scientific research throughout China to rise."

Yang led a group of publishing professionals who visited institutions including universities in Southeast and Northeast China to talk about research projects going on there and to give researchers suggestions how they could improve their chances of having their research findings published in high-quality peer-review journals.

Yang says Chinese scientists still need to learn how to better present their work and engage with readers, which is a vital part of the scientific culture.

She has traveled with Cell Press and Elsevier throughout China to teach scientists how to best present their work because Chinese tend to be more reserved than their Western counterparts.

Cell Press has also been running free author seminars each year in China to help academics get their works published in the world's top journals.

"I think that the culture of doing research in China is experiencing a change," Marcus says. "It used to be that people would just follow orders and not ask questions. Now we see more and more young scientists who are willing to question, willing to challenge old dogmas and willing to do more rigorous research. I think that this is very important and a very positive change in China."

There are more distinguished Chinese scientists now on Cell Press editorial boards. Cell Press is about to launch its first partnership with a Chinese society journal, Molecular Plant. Cell Press is also looking to make its symposium in China an annual event.

Marcus says she is optimistic that publications from China will continue to grow, as more Chinese researchers overseas choose to return home because of the country's improving scientific environment, sufficient fund support and, most importantly, better interaction with scholars within China and globally.

"It has been a privilege and inspiring to interact with Chinese scientists over such a long period and watch the evolution of Chinese science come on board.

"I think it's going to be really exciting ... that the global science initiative will have such a strong contributor as China."

liulu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 12/05/2014 page20)