Chinese authors far less likely to be published in top journals
A study published in Science journals indicates that researchers based in China face significantly lower acceptance rates compared to their Western counterparts. The authors suggest that high volumes of submissions from China may lead editors to filter out papers during initial screenings.
Why it matters
The findings raise concerns about systemic bias in academic publishing and the challenges faced by global researchers in high-impact journals.
Researchers based in China face persistent and substantial disadvantage in getting their work published in the world’s most influential science journals, according to an extensive new study of editorial decision-making.
The analysis of 110,303 manuscripts shows that bias against researchers extends even to those who are based in the West but have Chinese-sounding names.
Researchers reviewed submissions to the journals Science and Science Advances between 2016 and 2020 and found that authors based in the US or Canada were accepted at 3.3 times the rate of those based in China, with acceptance rates of 8.3 per cent against just 2.5 per cent.
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