Wednesday August 7, 2019 INDE

12-1^3

○ After IEEE banned Huawei employees from peer

review work, Chinese researchers realized an increas-

ing need to have their voices heard in the global

academic fi eld

○ In 2018, China spent 1.97 trillion yuan ($278.8 bil-

lion) on R&D – 138 times than the amount in 1991,

putting it right behind the US

○ Chinese researcher encourages fair academic ex-

changes between researchers from China and the US

By Zhang Dan

C

hinese researchers realized the im-

portance of raising their voices in the

global academic fi eld after the Institute

of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

• the world’s largest technical professional
  organization – temporarily banned Huawei
  employees from being peer reviewers or edi-
  tors in late May.
  In order to bolster the confi dence of Chi-
  nese researchers to participate in the peer re-
  view process for international journals, China
  Academy of Social Sciences Evaluation Studies
  (CASSES) organized a Beijing-based training
  workshop for Chinese researchers on Friday
  together with International academic publisher
  Taylor & Francis Group.
  “I don’t think ‘IEEE cases’ will stop. It may
  happen again, probably with another institu-
  tion in the near future... In the context of
  global competition, it is inevitable that China’s
  academia will get a raw deal, even vicious en-
  circlement and suppression, if it wants to have
  a say and occupy a particular position on the
  global stage,” Jing Linbo, dean of CASSES, told
  the Global Times.
  According to the latest data from China’s
  National Bureau of Statistics, the number of
  research papers by Chinese included in the Sci-
  ence Citation Index (SCI), Engineering Index
  (EI) and Conference Proceedings Citation
  Index (CPCI) reached 418,000, 266,000 and
  59,000 respectively. The Essential Science

Indicators database shows that Chinese

research papers ranked at No.2 on the

list of the highest cited publications

for 2018.

This achievement is closely

tied to strong fi nancial

support from the govern-

ment. In 2018, China

spent 1.97 trillion

yuan ($278.8 billion)

on R&D – 138 times

than the amount in

1991, putting it right

behind the US.

In many ways,

Chinese researchers

are working hard to

have their voices heard,

including as peer review-

ers.

“We were delighted to be

able to partner with CASSES

to off er training in how to be a peer

reviewer for international academic journals.

It has been shown by a number of studies that,

although Chinese researchers are contributing

to global research at a high level as authors,

they currently represent a relatively low propor-

tion of peer reviewers. Through this train-

ing, we are aiming to ensure more Chinese

researchers are equipped to be peer reviewers

for Taylor & Francis and Routledge journals,

which is vital for global representation at every

stage of the peer review process,”said Diana

Marshall, head of reviewer programs at the

Taylor & Francis Group.

Problematic evaluation system

One 25-year-old graduate student studying

at a second-tier Chinese university talked to

the Global Times about the challenges Chinese

researchers face when it comes to the peer

review system. Working on research 12 hours

a day, six days a week, the student, who wished

to remain anonymous, has been waiting for a

reply to an article on

mineral engineering he sent

to a top SCI journal.

If his article is published, he will

become a stronger candidate for his dream

doctoral program at an Australian university.

He acknowledged that the language barrier

is a great hindrance. Many Chinese students

and researchers like him have to spend time

and energy on reading English articles and

improving their academic writing in English.

He told the Global Times that when it

comes to mineral engineering research, China

takes the lead globally. He noted that, for this

reason, some Chinese researchers in the fi eld

would rather publish articles in domestic jour-

nals instead of foreign ones.

However, in China, promotions for re-

searchers are closely related to the number

of articles published on top international

academic journals; it is also a key proof of

one’s scientifi c achievements. This pressure

has brought about corruption and academic

misconduct.

At the end of July, the misconduct of a

female researcher in Sh

social media. The young

to get her name fraudul

published articles becau

ship with the author.

Jing said these issues

lematic evaluation of ac

“China’s academia n

tion: As long as the imp

high, it must be a top jo

Impact factors are us

portance of a journal by

average number of time

cited within the last few

Under these circums

researchers will choose

breakthroughs abroad fi

journals, especially in n

“We should now refl

system. Fortunately, we’

progress. I know in the

doctoral students are re

HAV

A S

u Chinese

scholars establish

own academic

evaluation system

following IEEE’s

Huawei ban