Chinese scholarly journals: steps to engage the world
From the inception of academic publication in China, scholarly journals have filled the three-pronged role of disseminating, gathering, and producing knowledge. They serve not only as transmitters of information and ideas, but also as workshops for the manufacture of new knowledge.
Challenges to Chinese scholarly journals
With the emergence of globalization and the increasing ubiquity of the market economy, scholarly journals are faced with obstacles to further development, if not threats to their very survival. First, globalization has given voice to a greater diversity of values in academic publishing, which, while challenging long dominant western ideologies. Secondly, the current predominance of the market economy causes academic inquiry to be subordinate to consumer’s demands—the traditional principles and management system of scholarly journals are unable to keep up with consumer expectations. Thirdly, people’s reading habits have changed tremendously with the rise of the internet. Digital databases have superseded the physical limitations of print journals, and readers’ awareness of particular publications is declining. Lastly, application of quantitative tools to evaluate the quality of journals in the social sciences and the humanities is inherently contradictory to these disciplines rationales. It warps the publisher’s interest in producing journals and adulterates the values of the humanities.
Dialectical thinking. Awareness of globalization’s impact on the academic community and academic publishing can help us ascertain how to position scholarly journals so as for them to play a leading role as forums for discussing research or developing the knowledge with in a field. In order to attain these goals, certain dialectics reflected in the thought and trends of scholarship merit our attention:
Globalization and localization. When confronting the challenges of globalization and the conflicts of diversified values, Chinese scholars should proceed from a native point of view; they should maintain a rational approach when adopting ideologies. Neither unconditional absorption all nor universal rejection is beneficial. We should strive for an international perspective, while staying grounded in our native culture.
Text and reality. Extant literature within a field is a primary resource for research, and as such, contributing to and reflecting on this body of literature it is a fundamental criterion for scholarly journals. However, apart from attention to text, scholarly journals should focus on actual issues of daily life, examining and reflecting on real problems or achievements. Such an emphasis will enrich the resources academic publishing has to draw on and contribute to the further growth of scholarly journals.
Inferiority and confidence. Since reform and opening-up, Western ideologies have flooded into Chinese academies and periodicals. Many Chinese scholars have completely forgotten themselves in unquestioningly following western measures of value to judge academic research while downplaying contemporary Chinese values. This situation of cultural inferiority plays out in academic exchanges. As I have said before, many Chinese scholars only hear what their western peers say and what ancient sages claimed, forgetting their own voice. If we ignore the unique culture originating from China, it is impossible to cultivate a distinct style of Chinese academic production and establish this style’s position.
Western discourse and Chinese discourse. During the modernization movement, western discourse became a beacon for certain Chinese scholars for two related reasons: the dominance of western discourse, and the psychological effect of seeking modernization. Taken together this led to a reverence for western discourse, causing some scholars to exclusively follow these foreign traditions. China has yet to form an independent academic discourse, yet alone take a leading role in the global academic community.
Transforming Chinese academic publishing
Learn advanced academic discourse and narrative methods from western countries. Western countries established a fairly comprehensive system of knowledge and academic discourse through centuries of modernizing and refining. In both science and the humanities, they have made glorious contributions to civilization; this is something China can learn from.
Build China’s own academic discourse. Establishing a system of academic discourse is a necessary step for a country’s intellectual development, and it is also a sign of the strength of that country’s discourse. In modern society, a strong discourse commands power in both ideology and public opinion. Transcending our current silence and “aphasia”, raising the voice of Chinese scholar’s in the tide of modernization, is a timely question that deserves our reflection.
Reliance on foreign discourse and languages makes a nation’s future prosperity impossible. “China issues” are a reflection of current social movements and practices in China. To study “China issues” requires a global perspective, but more importantly it requires Chinese scholars to be equally grounded in a native point of view and work toward forming a research framework for these issues. Questions relating to China should be tackled through an indigenous way of thinking and a unique approach. Undoubtedly, a nation needs to have an independent thought-base to achieve modernization; it needs to forge new cognitive norms determined from self practice and reflection. How to germinate and how to exhibit a unique Chinese academic discourse? These questions call for distinct academic backgrounds and resources. Chinese practice is their background; Chinese approaches and theories are their academic resources.
Digitalize scholarly journals. Making publications available via the internet and online databases is the current trend. With the development of internet, the traditional way of accessing information by reading physical books in libraries has been replaced by web searches. The latter is both substantially faster and grants the browser a much broader selection. The number of the people who read online has increased dramatically, while those who read books and printed journals become an ever declining minority. Scholarly journals have to make changes in order to adjust to this tendency of digitalization.
As platforms to publish research results as well as forums for the exchange of ideas and initiatives, scholarly journals must be available electronically to promote their influence and overcome their present difficulties. Therefore, perhaps the foremost step is establishing internet presence through launching websites—websites will be that advent of scholarly journals becoming available on the “information super highway”. Taking these individual websites as a foundation, scholarly journals can then link to each other to develop group networks, gathering dispersed websites into a single system. Transforming journals into nodes and these networks into hubs will end the period when Chinese academic journals were monolithic entities and enable them to be seen and accessed through search engines. Building this system will help Chinese academic publishing break through its current boundaries and broaden the possibilities for future development.
Questions are the starting point of innovation. The history of science shows that both scientific and technical innovation was born out of questions. Chinese scholarly journals should explore topics of mutual concern in the country and in the world and provide a platform for exchange. Maintaining a rigid and unified platform to run journals is unwise. To progress from questions to pertinent issues and knowledge facilitates a much deeper and broader dimension for investigating issues. Through this process, innovative products can eventually be obtained. “Group network” can enable journals to reach this goal. Guided by these methods of problem formulation, Chinese academic journals can contribute knowledge to academic research in Chinese by working out a cooperative editing team and platform for compiling articles.
Han Pugeng is Chief Editor of Jianghai Academic Journal.
The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No.392, Dec.14, 2012.
Translated by Feng Daimei
Revised by Charles Horne