Recently, a whistleblower sent an e-mail to China Youth Daily, claiming that "Since 2004, Modernization of Shopping Mall began to collect money crazily, and within four years, the publishing fee income was tens of millions of yuan". CFP
In the past, when it was a core journal, the charging standard was 1,200 yuan per page. Now, it has been taken down from the sequence of core journals, and each page has been reduced to 600 yuan, with a discount. An editor of Shopping Mall Modernization told the China Youth Daily reporter: "If we have the opportunity to become a core journal again in the future, our price will rise back." (See this edition reported on April 22nd)
An academic journal is in such a different situation just because it has the words "National Chinese Core Journal" on its cover. Why is the selection of "core journals" so influential? What kind of interest pattern is behind the selection of "core journals"? In this regard, China Youth Daily reporter launched an investigation.
"Many people think it is a national standard."
The "National Chinese Core Journals" marked on the cover of "Shopping Mall Modernization" originated from Peking University’s "Overview of Chinese Core Journals" (hereinafter referred to as "Overview"-reporter’s note). In order to show its identity, Shopping Mall Modernization sometimes photocopies the Certificate of Selection of National Chinese Core Journals in journals.
"It is true that the evaluation results will be improperly understood and used," said Cai Ronghua, a research librarian of Peking University Library, one of the editors-in-chief of Overview. The research results of core journals presented in Overview can only be used as a reference, and if its role is not properly expanded, it will have a negative impact.
Cai Ronghua said that the editorial board even wrote this point into the "research report" in the front part of the "Overview" many times, saying that "core and non-core are only a relative concept, and it is wrong to exaggerate the role of core journals and use them inappropriately", and "calling on all sectors of society to correctly understand the concept of core journals, rationally use the list of core journals, and avoid negative effects caused by unreasonable use of core journals".
In the research report part of the 2000 edition of the Overview, the editorial board also highlighted in black: "Especially on the issue of evaluating professional titles, we must determine the’ list of important journals’ suitable for our unit according to the specific conditions such as the professional scope and academic level, and should not indiscriminately copy the list of core journals."
The "research report" also mentioned: "It is obviously unreasonable for professionals of different levels and different natures to use the same core periodical list to evaluate their professional titles. The value of the core journal list lies in that it can face different levels of users with different needs, and users’ reference’ the core journal list and select the journals they need after screening is the correct way to use the core journal list. "
Xing Dongtian, editor-in-chief of the General Office of China Academy of Social Sciences, has made an in-depth study of Peking University’s Overview. He believes that this appeal may not be effective under the background of "judging articles by journals" in China’s academic circles at present.
He said that quite a number of scientific research institutions stipulate that only papers published in "core journals" can be regarded as assessment results. "This regulation makes no sense, because the level of journals is not necessarily related to the level of papers. However, this typical practice of’ judging articles by journals’ is the reality of academic evaluation in China. "
Ceng Wei, director of the editorial department of Higher Education Research in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, also believes that evaluating professional titles is equivalent to reading papers, while the quality of papers is equivalent to the level of published journals, while the level of academic journals is equivalent to whether they have been selected as "core journals".
Xing Dongtian said that this is because it is often difficult to identify what level a paper is, especially those theoretical achievements that cannot be tested at the moment. "But if it is evaluated by what kind of publication it is published in, it is clear at a glance and it is very convenient to operate."
"There is such a simple and easy way, and the scientific research management department can’t ask for it. Is there any reason why the ready-made tools are not used?" Xing Dongtian said that The Overview is not a national standard, but only a scientific research achievement of bibliometrics, but most scholars who know little about bibliometrics simply don’t know how the core journals are selected.
"No matter the executive department or the assessed, it is regarded as a mandatory evaluation system, and many people even think that it is a national standard. In fact,’ core journals’ have become the basic indicators of academic evaluation in China. " Xing Dongtian said.
Every review season, editors frequently conduct public relations.
Qian Ronggui of Nantong University Magazine pointed out in his monograph "Core Periodicals and Periodical Evaluation" that whether a publication is a "core periodical" under current conditions is directly related to its own survival and development. If a journal is selected as the "core journal", the source of manuscripts and financial resources will come one after another. However, if it is not selected, it will be followed by the scarcity of high-quality manuscripts and the shrinking of high-quality authors, and the whole editing and publishing work will become difficult.
Since the evaluation results of core journals will have such a great impact, its evaluation process will inevitably be interfered by relevant interest groups.
"As a folk research behavior, there is nothing wrong with Peking University Library to make such an evaluation. Peking University has its own standards, and other institutions can have other standards, and no one has the right to interfere. But the key point is that today’s academic evaluation system links core journals with many real interests, objectively expands the function and influence of core journal evaluation institutions, and there is the possibility of’ power rent-seeking’. " Xiong Bingqi, a professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, told the China Youth Daily reporter.
Cai Ronghua admits that the evaluation of core journals every four years is a series of "public relations" and "anti-public relations" processes.
Every review season, many editors-in-chief of academic journals have found research groups to mobilize classmates, fellow villagers, teachers and friends and other people to intercede. Because for them, whether a publication can enter the sequence of "core journals" may be related to the issue of "life and death": once it is listed, its value will increase sharply; And if the publication is in the "core" sequence, but it is "removed" by the new edition of "Overview", it is like rolling in the deep.
Because Modernization of Shopping Mall was not included in the 2008 edition of Overview, the page fee was reduced by half, which shows the scale of interest disputes caused by Overview.
"They (referring to the editors-in-chief of academic journals-reporter’s note) keep looking for us again and again, and we need several people to receive them," Cai Ronghua said. But she also pointed out that in the last few months, the research group will be closed and no one will receive it.
An Xiumin, an associate researcher at ISSN China National Center, told China Youth Daily reporter that at the end of 2008, just before the publication of Overview (2008 edition), she often received phone calls from her friends, and even a friend told her in a nearly pleading tone that if the core was not evaluated, the unit would not be allowed to do it, and the unit would not allocate money, so I should be laid off.
An Xiumin said that in the face of such a situation, many journals try their best to get into the circle of core journals.
A journal that is quite influential in the industrial and economic circles has been in the "core journal" sequence of Overview before, but it was pulled down in the latest edition of Overview in 2008. The editor-in-chief of the journal showed a short message sent to him by a university professor to China Youth Daily reporter: "Editor-in-chief, I didn’t expect your journal to be rated as a core journal, which is beyond most people’s expectation. This will be disastrous for the development of our engineering management discipline. Please do something to remedy it!"
The editorial board has received sponsorship fees for selected publications.
The huge economic benefits behind "Overview" are even reflected in the pirated market.
At the beginning of 2008, before the book was published, the "List of Core Journals Selected in 2008 Edition and Book Subscription Notice" began to circulate on the Internet, so that the editorial board had to issue a special statement on the homepage of Peking University Library on March 11th: "This achievement has never been published on the Internet, and the various versions of the" Overview of Chinese Core Journals "which are popular on the Internet at present are not published by the project team … The so-called 2008 published online at present.
It is understood that the 2008 edition of the Compendium of Chinese Core Journals, although less than 1,000 pages, is expensive and priced in 360 yuan.
Cai Ronghua claims that the research group will not be disturbed, because it is useless for those who want public relations to come to the research group and can’t solve any problems. The research group is only responsible for collecting and sorting out data. "Data is a past tense, and no one can change it."
Because the evaluation of "core journals" is divided into two parts: quantitative evaluation and qualitative evaluation, Cai Ronghua admits that the qualitative evaluation part, that is, the part evaluated by experts, is uncontrollable to some extent and "may exploit loopholes". "We will send invitations to a large number of experts to participate in the review, but basically only a quarter of the experts are willing to participate in the review. Actually, we are not completely clear about which expert."
She said that during the evaluation process, there will be periodical agencies to inquire which experts will participate in the evaluation. "If the experts participating in the review are bribed by the periodical press, there is nothing we can do. But in order to prevent this, we have adopted the method of increasing the number of experts participating in the evaluation. A magazine can’t afford to bribe more than half the experts, can it? "
Cai Ronghua said that some journals did offer sponsorship in the selection, but the editorial board refused. "It’s not good to take someone else’s money and not evaluate others." She stressed that in the later period, "our staff members were isolated, turned off their mobile phones and did not receive visiting periodical agencies."
However, she admits that in the previous selection, the jury has received sponsorship fees from some core journals, but the number is generally small and voluntary. As for the specific amount of sponsorship fees provided by these magazines, Cai Ronghua did not elaborate further, but said, "In return, we will give each other a" Overview of Chinese Core Journals ".
She said: "There are also many journals that ignore us, but they are still among the core journals in every selection."
As for the financial support, Cai Ronghua told reporters that the research group has no special funding support, but the Peking University Library and the university libraries participating in the selection will have some support. There are hundreds of people who regularly participate in the research and development work, most of whom are university library staff. Most of them do research for free, and only the income from the publication of Overview is divided into several hundred yuan each.
Cai Ronghua said that because the evaluation of core journals has attracted much attention, there is great pressure, not only financial pressure, but also social pressure. "In the future, we must be strict with ourselves and let the evaluation results stand up to scrutiny."
Variation of "Core Journals"
"Nowadays, academic journals are directly linked to the actual interests," Ceng Wei said. There are many core journals, not only one from Peking University, but also another core. "If you get a core, you can charge a publishing fee, and business will be good."
It is understood that, in addition to the General Survey published by Peking University, the Comprehensive Citation Report of China Academic Journals published by Tsinghua University Library, China Academic Journals (CD-ROM Edition) and China Scientific Literature Metrology and Evaluation Research Center, the Citation Index of Chinese Social Sciences (CSSCI) developed by Nanjing University, and the Outline of China Chinese Social Sciences Core Journals developed by China Academy of Social Sciences are all making similar evaluations.
In addition, some educational and scientific research institutions have formulated "core journals" that meet their respective requirements on the basis of referring to various versions of "core journals".
Xing Dongtian told the China Youth Daily reporter such a story:
He used to work in the China Academy of Social Sciences, and all the journals of world religious studies were called World Religious Culture. The orientation of this journal is: a popular and knowledgeable religious culture publication for the general public and religious believers, and it is the only popular religious culture magazine sponsored by academic circles in China at present.
To his surprise, when he visited a teacher in a famous university, he suddenly found that World Religious Culture was also among the "core journals" recognized by the university.
"How can such an intellectual journal be a core journal?" Xing Dongtian thought it was ridiculous, so he called the scientific research department of the school and learned that it was reported by the religious department of the school.
However, the teacher he visited complained bitterly: "There are very few publications in our discipline. If we don’t report them, the evaluation will be very disadvantageous. The unqualified assessment involves our rice bowl problem. "
"In this way, the system forced them to include" popular and knowledgeable "publications in the scope of core journals," Xing Dongtian sighed.
Editor: Zhang Renhe
