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Session Submission Summary

Presidential Invited S.: Decolonizing and facilitating knowledge production and transfer via new journals in non-Western-dominated discourse: China-based English-language journals in education (CELJE)

Tue, February 14, 7:45 to 9:15pm EST (7:45 to 9:15pm EST), On-Line Component, Zoom Room 103

Group Submission Type: Presidential Invited Sessions

Proposal

CIES 2023 challenges research to find ways to improve education for a more equitable world. A core part of this goes to making accessible research on education so that more people can leverage scientific and scholarly contributions to enhance equity and excellence. Academic journals are of course vital knowledge platforms which shape the field of comparative and international education.

To this end, this panel considers the role which four English language education discipline journals based in China (CELJE) play for South-North knowledge production and transfer. The panel aims to discuss establishing CELJE journals within the China academic ecosystem and the global market, and their implications to the comparative and international education.

Through four aligned but distinct presentations by editors of each of the target CELJE, the panel will unpack two core research questions:

1.What role can CELJE play in advancing South-North knowledge production and transfer?
2.Drawing on existing international examples and with specific reference to Asia, what are the characteristics of an editorial collective among these and related journals?

A quick review of publishing and knowledge dynamics conveys the contemporary and growing value of English language Education journals to China and the world. This provides context for each of the papers to respond to the first research question, and impetus and ideas for articulating responses to the second question.

First, it is vital that countries such as China participate in the global publishing mainstream. The ‘big five’ international academic publishers have forged an oligopoly of publishers in the digital era, accounting for approximately 50% of all published papers in 2013, 70% of all papers in the social sciences (Larivière et al, 2015), and the COVID19 pandemic has only spurred greater consolidation. China has grown the become the world’s largest English-language research ecosystem. Connecting China-related work with this publishing momentum is essential to ensure a general readership.

Second, it is important that the world has access to quality research and information on education in and about China. In recent decades China has affirmed the significance of R&D investments in technological innovation and self-reliance, and has focused on catching up with other research ecosystems to overcome the epistemic inequities in the access and distribution of published research (Peters, 2022). As a report from Impact Science (2021) makes clear: ‘NSF Data from 2018 reveals that China has surpassed the US in science and engineering journal articles and conference papers. The US, however, still retains the top position in the top 1% cited articles’. The 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Scholarly Publishing (SSP) in 2021 suggested ‘China is working on a master plan for the internationalisation of its domestic journals and plans to pursue an open science strategy at a national level’ (Wen Liangming, Li Yang & Guo Lei, 2022).

Third, it is also important to internationalise Education research in China. The research quality of education journals in China has been questioned (Zhao, et al., 2017). Greater international exposure provides a prompt to improve.

In response to the first research question, therefore, each of the four papers will examine how four respective cases of CELJE are seeking to go beyond publishing research papers and make broader contributions to the dynamic of South-North knowledge production and transfer. Each paper reviews the historical development of a case study CELJE, the journal’s aims and innovations, and its future ambitious and contributions. The papers go beyond editorial concerns to reflect more broadly on what it means to publish education research where authors, reviewers, editors and readers are predominantly in Asia.

Second, each paper will contribute shaping ideas regarding the characteristics of an editorial collective among these and related journals. The editors will draw on existing international examples but nuance their analyses and designs with specific reference to Asia. ‘Asia’ as a whole is now the globe’s biggest higher education ecosystem. Yet the quality and amount of research seriously lags other regions. An editorial/journal network has been established among certain countries but this does not yet embrace China and address major specific opportunities and contexts. Drawing on editorial and publishing experiences, the presenters critically discuss developing a publishing network in education, to help Chinese universities achieve greater equity in scholarship through internationalisation, and to build links and improve bibliodiversity between the South and the North. Working from outcomes of the CIES panel itself, the network will be nourished by the existing four journals, but will seek to play a broader role in cultivating future editors, reviewers, authors and readers.

As this abstract conveys, through four aligned papers this panel will directly address the fourth sub-theme of CIES 2023. Understanding the growth and trajectory of CELJE and establishing an editorial ecosystem is central to understanding “how the field of comparative and international education, which itself is rooted in colonial and post-colonial era engagements, so crucial in working toward improving education for a more equitable world across the global, South-North knowledge transfer, hegemonies, and collaborations”. Further, through active editing and publishing, the panel will show “how are practices of CIE teaching, learning, and research across varied academic institutions, journals and publishing houses, governmental and non-governmental agencies, donors, development banks, and foundations shaping and reshaping the field”.

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