Article in

[Helen(Yuehong) ZHANG]

Author's E-mail adress:  jzus at zju.edu.cn

Author(s): Helen ZHANG

Title  :   Foreseeing the Prospects of China¡¯s Scientific and Technical
           Periodicals from the Output of Chinese and Foreign Scientific
           and Technical Articles
Author(s) : (1) ZHANG Yuehong(Helen) ; (2) QI Zhiying

Source    :A Report in The 12th Conference of the International
           Federation of Science Editors in 2004 (12th-IFSE in Mexico)

Abstract:
Does a country¡¯s publication of excellent international recognized science
and technology (S&T) articles have any relation to its status as a giant in
S&T? And how to grow concern about the health of the country¡¯s scientific
publications and how to strengthen the dissemination of scientific
information? These questions need the attention of the government and
science journal editors. Some help in answering some these questions can be
gained by comparing some existing data: (1) The exponential growth of
scientific publications has paralleled to the development of the science
and education for the last two hundred years in the world. (2) World S&T
article output increased by almost 40 percent from 1988 to 2001, and has
been largely driven by growth in Western Europe, Japan, and several
emerging East Asian S&T centers (South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan region, and
China). (3) The output of academic articles in China over the past six
years grew in parallel to the input of science and technology. Relevant
data shows that the Chinese authors¡¯ S&T papers collected by SCI grew at
an average rate of 19 per cent each year from 1997 to 2002. The ratio of
scientific and technological input to China¡¯s gross domestic product (GDP)
in the past six years (1997-2002) increased at an average rate of 0.92 per
cent. And over the last 14-year period S&T article output rose almost 5-
fold in China but on a per capita output basis of worldwide trends in S&T
article output, China remains well below the world average. Through a
market survey of Chinese & foreign scientific publications and market
demand and in the view of Chinese high ratio of R&D investment to GDP, the
authors foresee bright prospects for Chinese scientific and technical
periodicals in the future and also offer some suggestions to achieve these
accomplishments.
Key words: Scientific journals, Publication market, Output of academic
papers

Address:  ZHANG Yuehong( Helen),managing editor
          Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE
          20 Yugu Road, Hangzhou 310027, China
          http://www.zju.edu.cn/jzus     jzus at zju.edu.cn