A glimpse of journal publishing in China

ing and indexing databases, but, like many other journals, the relatively low rate of citation of their publications is proving a limiting factor. How, then, to raise the citation rate? This matter was directly addressed by several of the invited speakers, who reiterated the points that the quality of the refereeing process was paramount, that English was now the favoured language of publication, and that specialization among journals in the subjects covered was important: very few broad-range or university journals are ever likely to achieve international recognition. This handicap has its origin in the desire of the majority of universities and institutes within China to publish journals based upon the work of their staff. This diversity in content acts against the trend toward specialization of content and the collection of the best work in China, regardless of origin, although it must be added that there are quality national journals in a variety of subjects. The aspirations of the Chinese are shared, of course, by very many other journal publishers, so that it was fascinating to hear James Testa outline the procedure adopted by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in selecting journals for inclusion among the thousand or so in Current