“Take control in a scientific magazine” Japan's new strategy in China… October 7, 17:46

"A new battle for leadership over science is taking place"
A Japanese researcher complained that something unprecedented has started in science competition. That is the Chinese initiative to “create the Chinese nature”. It is seen that they are trying to take the lead in science by creating their own famous scientific magazines. (Scientist of the Department of Science and Culture Shun Kinoda)

We visited Zhou Shatan, who is investigating the academic trends in China at the Japan Science and Technology Agency, a related organization of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Illustrated by Mr. Zhou is “Light: Science & Applications”, a specialized magazine for “optical” published by laboratories in countries under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This Chinese science magazine has grown to become a premier science magazine in just seven years.

First-class scientific journals are scientific journals that are said to have a high rating, ranked according to the evaluation criteria of magazines called impact factors, ranking scientific journals said to have 100,000 in the world. .

Impact factors are calculated by analyzing academic papers published in magazines by American academic information service companies that operate globally. The calculation method is an average obtained by examining the number of times a paper in a journal has been cited in other papers. The more the paper is cited, the more influence the magazine has. It is.

World-renowned scientific magazines “Nature” and “Science” have an impact factor of over 40. This means that published papers have been cited in other papers on average about 40 times in the last two years.

Although it depends on the research field, an impact factor of more than 5 is the minimum standard for international evaluations.

The previous “Light: Science & Applications” has an impact factor of 14 and has grown into a leading international scientific journal in just seven years.

A researcher whose life changes by being listed in a famous magazine

Why are scientific journals important?
This is because it is not an exaggeration to say that a researcher's life is determined by whether or not a paper is published in a famous scientific journal.

Researchers are competing to place their papers in famous scientific journals such as “Nature” and “Science”.

Because the current research is highly specialized and fragmented, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the content of research if the research field is slightly different, and research is based on whether the paper has been published in a famous scientific journal. There are many cases that evaluate.

Researchers are said to be able to become professors at national universities if they have at least one paper published in “Nature” or “Science”.

In other words, no matter how good the research is, if it is not published in a good scientific journal, the evaluation will be low, and if it is not published, it will be treated the same as not doing anything.

China embarking on a new strategy

China has mass-produced papers and has rapidly improved its scientific capabilities in quantity and quality. And here comes a new strategy.

That is "creating a Chinese version of nature".
If you can create a well-known scientific journal, you can exert a strong influence on the publisher of the magazine that has the authority to decide which paper to publish.

However, creating a famous scientific journal should not be easy.
If you look into it with doubt, you can see the strategy and tactics behind it.

Strategies for publishing in cooperation with Nature

The point where Mr. Zhou pointed his finger at "Look here" is under the cover of the magazine. That “nature” mark was attached. This Chinese scientific magazine was published in partnership with Nature.

Editing is done by the editorial board, but in addition to printing and distributing magazines, public relations activities such as advertising are considered to be supported by the “Nature” group.

In addition to borrowing the brand power of world-renowned magazines, there will be more paper submissions from high-level researchers who regularly post to Nature. In addition, through nature's powerful network, you can call for submissions and introduce published articles widely to famous researchers around the world to increase citations.

The ability to use the network of researchers that Nature has accumulated in this way is an extremely strong boost and can increase the impact factor in a short period of time.

This movement is not only “Nature”, but also “Science” is undertaking the publication of Chinese science magazines.

Zhou analyzed, “It is possible for researchers in the world to accept journals in a short period of time. This method is being advanced strategically.”

Mr. Zhou was a surprise and when he investigated the meeting where the editorial board members of this magazine gathered, he said that he was very surprised. Seventy percent of the editorial board was top-notch researchers in the United States and Germany.

Until now, it has rarely been so many European and American top scientists to participate in editorial boards in Asian science journals. According to Mr. Zhou's survey, the Chinese government divides leading domestic magazines into four ranks, supporting Japanese funds up to 30 million yen a year, and acquiring human resources with abundant funds. about it.

Famous magazines from China one after another

The fact that China is working on fostering scientific journals nationwide is also reflected in statistics.

According to a survey conducted by Claribate Analytics Japan, which analyzes trends in the world's scientific journals and ranks magazines, Japan's number of scientific journals has been almost flat since 2011. Last year was 248 magazines.

China, on the other hand, has been overwhelming Japan over the past 10 years, with 219 magazines last year.

In addition, it is clear that Chinese scientific journals are growing in “impact factor”.

Last year in Japan, there was only one leading scientific journal with an impact factor exceeding 10.

In China, there were no magazines with an impact factor exceeding 10 ten years ago, but last year it was four. All of them are characterized by a surge in impact factor over the past few years, and some magazines have an impact factor of more than 10 in just four years since its launch.

In addition to this, Chinese scientific journals are rapidly increasing their impact factor. Chinese researchers are expected to be more likely to publish their papers in these first-class magazines.

The struggle of Japanese scientific magazines

On the other hand, Japanese scientific magazines are also making efforts, but many are struggling.

We visited the editorial department of an English scientific journal, commonly known as “BCCSJ”, published by the Japanese Chemical Society.

On this day, the editor-in-chief and about five editorial staff members worked to encourage prominent Japanese researchers to submit their papers.
A list that summarizes the names of researchers and awards received from academic societies is created, and it is said that they are asked to write articles by email regularly once a year.

In order to encourage overseas researchers to be interested in papers published in journals, we publish a short booklet summarizing the papers and distribute it to researchers around the world.

In addition, there was a report on the response of SNS on this day. In Japanese and English, the latest hot papers are tweeted three times a week and the number of retweets is regularly checked.

Through these efforts, the impact factor, which shows the influence of scientific journals, has been raised from 2.3 to 4.4 last year. Although it is a number that can be regarded as one of the top ranks among chemical magazines, it does not have the influence of being a world-renowned magazine.

“The current situation is that many Japanese researchers are not aware of the importance of journals. The quality of Japan is high enough to appeal to Japanese researchers. I want to make a magazine that can see the results of my research. "

Kuraribate Analytics Japan's director Yoshiko Tanahashi is worried about the current situation, “China is promoting science very strategically. Japan feels that there is not enough strategy, and this will only widen the gap.” The

Experts need to change their consciousness

Some experts point out that this issue is not shared so much, and that the Japanese consciousness is also largely related.

Specially Appointed Professor Shu Yamaguchi of the University Reform Support and Degree Awarding Organization, who is familiar with the trends in scientific journals in each country, reveals a sense of crisis.

“There are many people who think that raising the impact factor of a magazine is“ not good ”, so it has n’t been taken seriously. It's a lot of pure thinking and a good thing for Japanese researchers, but I can't say that I'm looking at the situation in China. ''

Professor Yamaguchi points out that the importance of nurturing the scientific community in Japan has not penetrated into researchers.

This is because Japanese researchers have a tendency to make efforts only for their own achievements, such as putting a paper in a good magazine, without seeming to do a job that seems to be a "science work" at first glance like creating a scientific journal. .

In the history of science, Western researchers have collaborated to maintain and develop the scientific community, and have accumulated efforts such as running international academic conferences, examining papers and publishing journals. The results are linked to the current famous scientific magazine.

Based on this situation, Professor Yamaguchi points out as follows.

“China is putting effort into publishing scientific journals, and all Chinese researchers are trying to raise the impact factor. Japanese people dislike it, but there are aspects that will result in revitalizing science, although the impression is different. It can be said that it has been done in the US and Europe so far, “Nature” and “Science” make Chinese magazines more famous and sell well, so I feel the benefits of partnering with China. Japanese researchers need to think about how Japanese scientific journals and the scientific community should be. "

What seemed to be triggered by China's strong start in publishing science journals is that the environment surrounding science is not something that someone needs to maintain, but that it is a problem that must be addressed on its own. It was pointing.

Science and Culture Report