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Publishing in international journals

An examination of trends in chinese co-authorship

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Abstract

This paper examines patterns of Chinese authorship, focusing particularly on international co-authorship, in a sample of 37,526 articles from Elsevier journals published in 2004. Trends relating to potential influences such as subject, journal impact factor and article type are explored. A slightly higher proportion of articles with at least one Chinese author was observed as compared to previous studies. Articles that are a product of Chinese international collaboration account for almost 20% of the Chinese sample as a whole, a similar proportion to levels of international collaboration within the sample overall. Chinese international co-authorship is most common in the Earth & Environmental Sciences. Where China is involved in international collaboration, it is often a proactive participant: 49% of articles that are a result of Chinese international collaboration have a Chinese corresponding author. With some minor variations in subject categories, countries favoured in international co-authorship reflect world shares in publishing and factors such as geographical proximity and political links.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication and Languages, The Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen, AB10 7QE, Scotland

    Jo Royle & Louisa Coles

  2. Department of Information Management, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland

    Dorothy Williams

  3. Elsevier Science and Technology, China Beijing, China

    Paul Evans

Authors
  1. Jo Royle
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  2. Louisa Coles
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  3. Dorothy Williams
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  4. Paul Evans
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jo Royle.

Additional information

In the context of this project, the term ‘Chinese authors’ is used to refer to authors, regardless of nationality, who are based at Chinese institutions. The term does not include Chinese nationality authors who are based in institutions outwith China.

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Royle, J., Coles, L., Williams, D. et al. Publishing in international journals. Scientometrics 71, 59–86 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1648-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1648-5

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