中国学术期刊改革的一剂猛药

劣质的出版物将被“淘汰”。

中国新闻出版总署副署长李东东计划对中国出版业进行重大改革。

当听说许多中国的学术杂志发表了越来越多的论文，实际上却无人阅读并且充斥着大量的剽窃时，中国的科学家几乎没有人会感到惊讶。不过对于中国科学家而言，上周政府对这一问题提出的解决方案却绝对是一个惊喜。

    Li Dongdong, a vice-minister of state and deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) — the powerful government body that regulates all publications in China — acknowledged that the country's scientific publishing had a "severe" problem, with "a big gap between quality and quantity", and needed reform.

国家新闻出版总署副署长李东东承认中国的学术杂志存在“严重的”问题，“质与量之间存在巨大的差距”，而且急需进行改革。新闻出版总署是监管中国所有出版物的强力政府机构。

    Opening a meeting of scientific publishers in Shanghai on 7 September, Li announced that by January 2011, new regulations will be used to "terminate" weak journals.

2010年9月7日，在上海召开的一次学术出版会议的开幕式上，李东东宣布在2011年1月之前，将推行新的管理规范，以“淘汰”劣质的学术杂志。

    Precisely how this reform will work is the subject of hot debate. If an evaluation process finds a journal to be weak, it may be forced to close altogether, or relaunch with a different editorial board, a different title or even a different subject focus.

改革具体如何进行，成了热烈讨论的话题。如果评估程序发现某一家杂志质量较差，那么这家杂志可能被勒令完全关闭，或者由另一个不同的编辑委员会接管重新运作，或者改成一个不同的刊名甚至换成不同的学科领域重新发行。

    Those journals judged to be strong will receive support such as tax breaks. Scientific publishing will be concentrated in "five-to-ten large publishing groups" that will compete with each other, says Li. "We will turn China from a large science and technology publisher to a powerful science and technology publisher." GAPP did not respond to Nature 's requests for more information.

那些被评定为质量上乘的学术杂志将会获得支持，比如税收减免。李东东说，学术论文发表将集中在“5到10家彼此相互竞争的大型出版集团”中间。“我们将会把中国从一个学术出版大国转变成一个学术出版强国。”新闻出版总署没有回应《自然》（Nature）杂志想获得更多信息的要求。

    News of the regulation startled many of the publishers at last week's meeting, the 6th China Science Journal Development Forum. Some believe that bureaucrats should not be interfering with journals, and others say that powerful scientists will resist the move. But all agreed that China's scientific publishing is in bad shape.

许多参加了上周召开的第六届中国科技期刊发展论坛会议的出版人，都被改革的信息所震惊。对此，一些出版人认为官僚主义不应当干涉学术杂志，另一些出版人说那些影响力大的科学家应当抵抗这次行动。不过所有出版人都同意这一点，那就是中国学术杂志的状况的确很糟糕。

    Approximately one-third of the roughly 5,000 predominantly Chinese-language journals are 'campus journals', existing only so that graduate students and professors can accumulate the publications necessary for career advancement, according to one senior publisher. And in a Correspondence to Nature last week, Yuehong Zhang of the Journal of Zhejiang University–Science reported that a staggering 31% of the papers submitted to that campus journal contained plagiarized material ( Nature 467, 153; 2010).

据一位资深出版人称，中国5000家左右中文学术杂志中大约有三分之一是大学学报，这些学报之所以存在仅仅只是便于研究生与教授能够攒够职业提升所必需的论文发表数量。而且在上周《自然》杂志收到的一封来信中，《浙江大学学报-科学》英文版主编张月红报告称，提交给该杂志的投稿论文中高达31%的论文包含剽窃内容。

    Most Chinese journals make their money through funding from their host institutions, and by charging authors per-page publishing fees. "Most are never cited. Who knows if they're even really published. They're ghosts," says one publisher, who declined to be named. Wu Haiyun, a cardiologist at the Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, says that only 5–10% of these journals are worth saving, and the rest are "information pollution".

大多数中国的学术杂志都是从其所属科研机构的经费中获取资金，同时另一个资金来源是向论文作者收取发表版面费。“大多数中文论文从未被人引用过。谁知道这些论文到底有没有真正出版过。它们只是幻影，”一位不愿具名的出版人说。中国人民解放军总医院的著名心血管病专家吴海云说，这些杂志中仅有5%到10%是值得保留的，其余的都是“信息污染”。

    Most of China's top researchers already forgo Chinese publications for international ones, where they earn the recognition that can promote their career. And they are increasingly successful: in November 2009, scientists from China became the second-most prolific publishers of scientific articles in international scientific journals.

大多数中国顶尖的研究人员已经放弃了中国的学术杂志，都只向国际学术杂志投稿，在国际杂志上他们获得了能够促进职业发展的认可。而且他们越来越成功：2009年11月，中国科学家在国际学术杂志上发表论文的数量已经位列全球第二，仅次于美国。

    But some Chinese librarians are beginning to baulk at the prices charged by these foreign journals. On 1 September, an open letter signed by 35 librarians criticized foreign science, technology and medicine publishers for "using their monopolistic position" to raise subscription prices annually by more than 14% for the next 3 years. Meanwhile, some of the better Chinese journals are being published in collaboration with foreign companies such as Wiley–Blackwell and Springer, respectively headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Berlin. Cell Research, for example, based at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and co-published by Nature Publishing Group, reached an impact factor of 8.2 in 2009 — the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia.

但是一些中国的大学图书馆长开始阻碍这些国外学术杂志收取费用的价格（大学图书馆负责订阅各种学术杂志）。2010年9月1日，由35位大学图书馆长联合签署的一封公开信批评国外科技与医学出版社“利用他们的垄断地位”来提高订阅的价格，批评他们接下来三年中每年的订阅价格增幅超过了14%。同时，一些中国较好的学术杂志正在与国外的出版公司合作发行，比如著名的威利-布莱克威尔公司（Wiley–Blackwell）以及施普林格公司（Springer）。比如，中国科学院上海生命科学研究院主办的《细胞研究》（Cell Research）杂志，是与自然出版集团（npg）联合出版的，2009年度的影响因子已经达到了8.2——这是亚太地区（包括澳大利亚在内）影响因子最高的杂志。

《细胞研究》杂志，由中国科学院上海生命科学研究院（SIBS）与自然出版集团（npg）联合发行。

    Impact factors could provide an important cornerstone of the government's evaluation system. For example, the Chinese Journal Citation Report, published by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China since 2004 and covering some 1,800 of China's top journals, provides impact factors that measure their significance on the basis of the number of times that articles are cited by peers.

学术杂志的影响因子可以为政府的评估系统提供一个重要的基础。比如，中国科学技术信息研究所发布的中国学术杂志引用报告，囊括了2004年以来的数据以及中国1800本左右最好的杂志，这份报告提供了杂志的影响因子，根据论文被同行引用的次数来衡量杂志的重要性。

    Many Chinese journals are switching to publishing in English to increase their impact factors, and more than 200 English-language science and technology journals are now based in China. ACTA Genetica Sinica became the Journal of Genetics and Genomics in 2007; Neuroscience Bulletin, founded in 1998, switched to English in 2006; and in January 2009, Acta Zoologica Sinica, published since 1935 and the second-oldest journal in China, became Current Zoology. In its first year, the proportion of papers that it published from non-Chinese scientists shot up from 16% to 42%. Having earned a spot on the list of journals counted by Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge, the journal is awaiting its first impact factor. Martin Stevens, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, says that Current Zoology is now finding a niche. "Before, there weren't any journals that had this relatively broad audience. Many looked at specific areas of biology," says Stevens, who guest edited a special issue of the journal about how the sensory system relates to evolution.

许多中国的杂志正转换成以英文的形式发行以提高它们的影响因子，而且目前已有200多本英文科技杂志是中国出版的。《遗传学报》在2007年变成了英文版《遗传学与基因组学杂志》；1998年创刊的《神经科学通报》在2006年转为以英文形式出版；而且1935年开始发行的《动物学报》（当时中国第二本学术杂志）在 2009年1月份改为《当代动物学》杂志。在《动物学报》改版后的第一年里，来自中国以外科学家投稿的论文比例从16%锐增到42%。在汤姆森路透网络数据库（Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge）盘点的学术杂志列表中获得了一个位置之后，这本杂志正在等待它第一年的影响因子出炉。马丁·史蒂文斯（Martin Stevens）是英国剑桥大学（University of Cambridge）的一名动物学家，他说《当代动物学》现在正在寻找一个合适的位置。“在这之前，没有任何一本杂志拥有这样相对广泛的读者。许多人只是将动物学视作生物学大类中的一个特定领域，”史蒂文斯说。他被邀请担任这本杂志的客座编辑，负责一期关于感觉系统如何与进化相关的特刊。

    A minority of Chinese scientists argue that there is no need for Chinese-language primary research journals at all. All original Chinese research should be published in English-language journals to get the widest audience possible, says Wu, who adds that Chinese-language journals should stick to publishing continuing education and review articles. "Is it necessary for China to have its own journals?" he asks.

少数中国科学家认为根本没有必要存在以中文为主要语言的研究性杂志。吴海云说，中国所有原创性的研究都应当在英文杂志上发表，以最大可能地获得广泛的读者。他补充道，中文杂志应当坚持发表成人教育以及综述类的论文。“中国有必要拥有中文的研究性杂志吗？”他问道。

    The government's answer is an emphatic 'yes'. For Li, strong scientific publishing is a necessary "driving force in innovation and technological strength". Once the new reforms are under way, she says, "journals will be a strong part of our soft power".

政府的回答是，显然有必要。对于李东东而言，强大的学术杂志是“科技创新实力必要的驱动力”。一旦新的改革开始实施之后，她说，“学术杂志将成为我们软实力的一个重要部分”。