As an important part of the Beijing Academic Week of the 26th Annual Conference of the China Association for Science and Technology, the 19th China Science and Technology Periodicals Development Forum will be held in Beijing on the 9th.
A few days ago, Bai Yuhong, deputy chief engineer and second-level researcher of Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was interviewed by Xinhuanet on the relationship between new quality productivity and scientific and technological journals and the direction of cultivating first-class scientific and technological journals.
Xinhuanet: What are the conditions for the positioning of Light as an international academic journal? What is the model of the Light series?
Bai Yuhong: The positioning of Light as an international academic journal is mainly based on the following conditions:
(1) First-class international editorial board. Since its establishment, the criteria for selecting editorial board members are those who have published high-level papers, served as the head of an important international academic organization, or served as the chairman or speaker of an important international academic conference, and are in the prime of life and active in scientific research.
(2) First-class career science editors. Light's scientific editors are all full-time employees of Changchun Institute of Optics and Mechanics with overseas exchange experience, professional discipline background, good scientific research training, and doctoral degrees, and the professional quality of the editors determines the starting point and height of the journal.
(3) First-class global reviewers. Finding top-notch reviewers around the world is a challenge for all leading journals. Peer review is the voluntary work of international mainstream scientists, and scientists basically conduct peer review after work, and this is a completely dedicated work. Therefore, how to impress reviewers and make them willing to spend time helping authors is the direction of every journal. From the beginning of the journal, Light insisted on looking for world-class reviewers, and at the most, an article was sent to more than 30 experts and no one accepted the review, but we always adhered to high standards and never gave up, which made Light what it is today.
(4) First-class excellent author achievements. At the beginning of the journal, it was difficult for us to get world-class results, but we always tried to strive for the best research results of the good authors themselves at that time. After the best results are published in Light, we work with the authors to promote the excellent results, and the effect is a win-win situation for both the author and the journal.
The journal model of the Light series is to develop a cluster of high-impact brand journals that are small, refined and strong, and the goal of our learning is the cluster of Science journals. The characteristics of the Science cluster are a flagship main journal, 5 self-run sub-journals, and 16 cooperative journals are all in cooperation with China, not excessive pursuit of impact factors, not greedy for more, focusing on brand influence building, focusing on publishing top achievements (Human Genome Project, Nobel Prize results, etc.), setting up major awards and running special columns.
At present, Light has achieved a flagship main journal, 5 self-run sub-journals, 5 cooperative journals, and 3 more are under discussion. One of the self-run sub-journals, eLight, has achieved the self-transcendence of the Light brand in the direction of impact factor, reaching 27.2, and although the flagship main journal Light is 20.6, it is a well-deserved flagship of the Light brand in terms of influence and number of publications.
Xinhuanet: How does the "Light" series of journals attract and encourage the publication and development of major relevant research results? What services are available for authors? What has been done and what do you plan to continue to do in the process of nurturing it to become a world-class scientific journal?
Bai Yuhong: So far, every major research result published in the Light series of journals has been invited by our professional editorial board members and scientific editors. For example, the original paper of Cui Tiejun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor of Southeast University, was first published in 2014 on digitally coded metamaterials, which was personally invited by Sun Hongbo, a professor at Tsinghua University, who was the executive editor-in-chief. Of course, our editorial board members also have a preference for journals, for example, two original masterpieces by Professor Sun Hongbo of Jilin University, the second prize winner of the National Natural Science Award this year, were published in Light in 2020 and 2017 respectively. The main service we provide to authors is to process the manuscript review process and the publication process in advance, and race against time to compete with the world's first-class journals. After the manuscript is published, the author's results are comprehensively publicized through the global media matrix, so that the authors feel that the paper published on Light is a major scientific research achievement.
In the process of nurturing the Light series to become a first-class journal, the most distinctive thing we have done is to take the lead in setting up 25 regional offices around the world, and the part-time experts and scholars in these offices work together with the full-time scientific editors of Light journals in Changchun Institute of Optics and Mechanics to create a global office environment, so that there is no time difference in timely feedback, so that authors can feel that we are always ready to serve the sincere attitude. In the future, we plan to continue to expand the circle of friends of the "Light" series, maximize the brand influence of the "Light" series, go beyond papers, and serve the scientific research community.
Xinhuanet: How to understand the relationship between new quality productivity and scientific and technological journals? How to lead the sub-journals to strengthen the construction of a strong country in scientific and technological journals through top journals, and continuously promote the high-quality development of scientific and technological journals?
Bai Yuhong: The new quality productivity is the use of the latest achievements in science and technology to carry out industrial upgrading, including the development of emerging high-tech industries and the transformation of traditional industries. Scientific and technological journals are an important medium for disseminating and recording the latest scientific research results, and their close relationship with new quality productivity is mainly reflected in:
(1) Knowledge dissemination: Scientific and technological journals are an important communication channel for the theory, technology, method and application of new quality productivity. By publishing the latest research results in related fields, it helps researchers and enterprises understand the latest scientific and technological progress.
(2) Academic exchanges: scientific and technological journals allow experts and scholars in different fields to exchange ideas, share experiences, and promote interdisciplinary cooperation, which is particularly important for the innovation of new quality productivity.
(3) Technical verification: Papers published in scientific and technological journals often need to be peer-reviewed, which helps to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of new technologies and provides a scientific basis for the promotion and application of new quality productivity.
(4) International cooperation: scientific and technological journals are often international, they promote scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation on a global scale, and contribute to the dissemination and application of new quality productivity on a global scale. The main methods of the "Light" series to lead the sub-journals to strengthen the construction of brand clustering through the top journal are:
All the original creators of the top journal of "Light" invested in the initial period of the sub-journal, selected outstanding young scientific editors born in the 90s to take the lead and bear the burden, cultivated the journal managers in the mode of cultivating leading talents of scientific and technological journals, and copied the successful experience of the top journal at the same time, constantly breaking through the ceiling of the journal, innovating the concept of running the journal, and realizing the youth and internationalization from the editor-in-chief, the director of the editorial department, and the assistant editor-in-chief. Therefore, the first impact factor of 27.2 of the sub-journal eLight surpasses the flagship journal "Light" (20.6), and the sub-journal "Light: AdvancedManufacturing" has published a large number of industrial papers closely related to the manufacturing industry in view of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry in mainland China and the difficulties and pain points of the current industrial upgrading in mainland China. Therefore, scientific and technological journals, as a medium of knowledge dissemination in the development of new quality productivity, play a vital role in academic communication, technology verification and innovation incentives.
Xinhuanet: How to deepen the reform of the scientific and technological system in practical work, and strive to break through the blocking points that restrict the development of scientific and technological journals? How to better motivate journal staff?
Bai Yuhong: In the five years since the implementation of the Excellence Program, China's scientific and technological journals have made rapid progress. The more this is the case, the more important it is to look at the impact factor calmly and rationally. It is not the first discipline in the impact factor, but the level of scientific and technological development in the mainland has reached the first place in the discipline. The evaluation system of scientific and technological journals should be comprehensive and objective.
Blocking points and stuck points are mainly in the intensive platform, I prefer to build a unified scientific and technological journal complete platform at the national level, this is not a problem in the AI era. It is actually very simple to stimulate the enthusiasm of journal practitioners, and excellent scientific and technological journal practitioners should have policies that benchmark national talents at all levels and implement them in place.
Xinhuanet: What does it mean for mainland science and technology journals, especially optical journals such as the Light series, to enter the world-class phalanx?
Bai Yuhong: Seven of the top 10 institutions in the 2024 Nature Index – China 2024 list of scientific research leaders are from China. In the future, more and more Chinese academic output is likely to be published in leading Chinese-sponsored journals.
The entry of the Light series of optical journals into the world's first-class phalanx means: first, an increase in international recognition. That is, the academic level and influence of this journal have been recognized by the international optical academic community, and the research results published in this journal can attract readers and authors around the world. Secondly, the level of scientific research has been improved, which shows that China's research level in the field of optics and other scientific and technological fields has reached the international advanced level, and it can communicate and compete with the world's top scientific research institutions and scholars; Third, academic exchanges have been strengthened, and world-class scientific and technological journals can attract more international scholars to submit and disseminate papers, promote international academic exchanges and cooperation, and help enhance the international vision and cooperation ability of Chinese researchers. Fourth, the ability to innovate is enhanced, and world-class journals tend to be highly innovative and forward-looking, which can promote the development of scientific research in related fields to a deeper and broader field.
Xinhuanet: In what aspects should we continue to strengthen in cultivating first-class scientific and technological journals?
Bai Yuhong: When a country's scientific and technological journals enter the forefront of the world, it has a far-reaching impact and benefit on the development of cultivating new quality productive forces, which can not only promote scientific and technological innovation and industrial development, but also enhance the country's international competitiveness and influence. These include:
(1) Innovation-driven: World-class scientific and technological journals can stimulate and guide more innovative thinking and practice, and provide a steady stream of innovation power for the cultivation of new quality productivity.
(2) Industrial upgrading: The research results published in scientific and technological journals can be transformed into practical industrial applications to promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure.
(3) Knowledge dissemination: world-class scientific and technological journals can more widely disseminate knowledge and technology related to new quality productivity, and improve the public's awareness and acceptance of scientific and technological innovation.
(4) International cooperation: scientific and technological journals that have entered the forefront of the world will help strengthen cooperation with international scientific research institutions, promote the exchange of knowledge and technology, and accelerate the cultivation of new quality productivity.
Cultivating first-class scientific and technological journals "people" is always a factor that affects everything, therefore, it is imperative to increase the cultivation of compound scientific and technological journal talents, and there must be policies, goals, implementation, and plans, and use 10 years of patience to cultivate a group of leading talents in Chinese scientific and technological journals with international influence. In addition, the five-year golden time of the implementation of the Excellence Plan is very precious, and it is hoped that the leaders will have the courage to persevere, the determination to overcome difficulties, and the spirit of continuous innovation, so that the Excellence Plan will become a milestone in China's scientific and technological and cultural innovation in the process of continuous improvement. (Xinhuanet)