Beijing is considering reducing the weight given to publications in international scientific journals when evaluating researchers’ academic careers. Instead, the authorities intend to strengthen the role of Chinese journals and the national system for evaluating scientific activity,according to the Financial Times.
Asthe source notes, in 2024, Chinese scientists accounted for nearly one-third of all publications in the Science Citation Index (SCI), which brings together leading international scientific journals and is widely used to assess scientific productivity. By comparison, two decades ago their share was about 5%.
“It is no longer a question of China as a country that simply accumulates knowledge. The question is how China manages its knowledge: how it safeguards national security while simultaneously promoting scientific prestige and achievements,” Quincy Dennis Simon, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Responsible Governance, told the publication.
Beijing has been consistently tightening its control over international scientific cooperation. In June, the Ministry of State Security of the People’s Republic of China reiterated that publications in foreign journals, applications to participate in international conferences, and joint research projects must undergo prior approval. The ministry had previously reported a case involving the leak of “important technical details.”
According to the FT, China has been pursuing a policy of tightening control over foreign publications and supporting domestic scientific journals since August 2023.
At the same time, the country continues to strengthen its own scientific capabilities. As CNN previously reported, since the beginning of 2024, at least 85 scientists who previously worked in the U.S. have moved to research institutes in China, with more than half of these moves occurring in 2025. Among them are specialists in nuclear physics, aerospace engineering, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), China’s spending on research and development in 2023 exceeded $780 billion.
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