On March 22, Peking University performed a "hat trick" in Nature and published 3 research papers at the same time. On the same day, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Southern University of Science and Technology also published Nature papers online as the first completion units.
According to statistics, in 2022, Chinese universities and research institutes will publish a total of 259 papers on CNS , accounting for about 20% of the number of top journal papers in the world. Both Tsinghua University and Peking University will break through 20 papers. Universities also have CNS in their pockets.
However, China's CNS trend is just in the ascendant, and a reality has surfaced. There are more and more top publications. Why is the "stuck neck" problem still difficult to solve?
In 2023, the top issue will be released madly
At the beginning of 2023, Zhejiang University and University of Science and Technology of China ushered in the first Nature of the new year. Since then, Chinese colleges and universities have pressed the hurricane mode of top journal publications.
As of March 24, universities in mainland China have published 76 papers as corresponding authors (including co-corresponding authors) on CNS in 2023, covering 49 universities, accounting for 30% of the total number of papers published by China's CNS in 2022 .
Note: Only count the papers published by CNS as Article; only count the corresponding author unit, if there is a co-corresponding author unit, each unit will be counted once; the data source is Web of Science; manual statistics, if there are any omissions, please contact us Added to the comment section.
The blowout of CNS among Chinese universities is an indisputable fact. At most, from March 1st to 2nd, there was a grand occasion in which 12 achievements were published in the top issue within two days .
Posting CNS is no longer exclusive to the top universities in China, and " breaking school history " frequently appears in the press releases of universities reporting on CNS. Among them are Yunnan Agricultural University, Capital Medical University, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun Institute of Science and Technology, West Lake University, Bengbu Medical College, Shandong Agricultural University, Guangxi Medical University, Chengdu University and other "double non" universities.
Figure | "Breaking school history" has become a common word in college CNS news
On February 22, the team of Professor Zhang Jing from the Institute of Optoelectronics of Shanxi University and the State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Optical Quantum Devices achieved a zero breakthrough in the regular journal of Nature as the first authored unit of Shanxi University . This is also the first Nature article in Shanxi Province .
Thirteen days after Yunnan Agricultural University published its first cover article on Science on March 2 , it published another paper on the cover of Science.
Beijing University of Chemical Technology created a miracle of publishing three Cell top journals in a row within 10 days. Among them, the article published by Professor Feng Yue’s team on February 6 was the first Cell of Beijing Chemical Industry .
It is self-evident that colleges and universities pursue top journals. However, on this crowded trail, top journals have already escaped from the status of pure papers and ascended to the throne overlooking everything.
A top journal, academician
More than ten years ago, it was still very rare for Chinese universities to issue top journals. In the hearts of many universities, top journals represented the highest level of scientific research.
In order to encourage publication, top journals will inevitably be linked with fame and fortune. A scientific researcher once said bluntly, "Basically all colleges and universities will reward papers both openly and secretly."
Money is the most direct reward. Some units clearly stipulate in the scientific research awards that the reward for publishing a CNS paper is as high as 500,000 yuan, and some institutions even reward 1 million yuan .
Figure | Scientific research award standard of a certain unit
In addition to money, rewards exist more implicitly. An ordinary green pepper can be rated as a professor within one year, and as a young scholar within three years, enjoying the tilt of various resources of the school and additional financial support .
Earlier, for a regular issue of Nature , if the author's unit belongs to a 985 university, he can basically enter the academician candidate directly, and what's more, he can be directly evaluated as an academician because the paper is too good .
Driven by the fact that publishing top journal papers means everything, alienation has occurred.
The most intuitive manifestation is the convergence of popularity . As a commercial journal, top journals will inevitably prefer hot topics in the selection of papers. In order to publish smoothly, some researchers have formed a tendency to move closer to the research hotspots of top journals.
Some scholars conducted an international comparison of the research topics of China's top journal papers in the past 40 years, and finally came to the conclusion that most of China's top journal papers are follow-up . In recent years, popular fields such as "graphene", "perovskite" and "cryo-electron microscopy" have gathered together in colleges and universities is evidence.
Figure | Many colleges and universities lay out cryo-electron microscopy centers
Even more paradoxically, the top journal does not actually guarantee anything. The 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine Tasuke Honjo once said, "I think that 90% of the views in journals such as Nature and Science are incorrect. Ten years after the publication of the paper, only one can be considered correct." success; really top-notch work is often not published in top journals. ”
It's time to cool down the "top magazine fever".
top issue, step down from the throne
In July 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China issued the "Notice on Further Consolidating the Scientific Research Style and Academic Responsibilities of the Task-taking Units of National Science and Technology Plans (Special Projects, Funds, etc.) and the Main Responsibilities of Scientific Research Integrity".
Figure | The Ministry of Science and Technology issued a notice to "decouple" papers from rewards
The notice states, “ Do not link the number of published papers, impact factors with rewards, and do not use special funds from national science and technology programs (special projects, funds, etc.) to reward papers for publication. ”
After removing the complexity, the top journal can return to the original paper carrier status, and it does not have any special meaning except for the results to be noticed by more people.
Similarly, " publishing top journal papers and "landing" scientific research results are two completely different concepts ."
In the fields of chemistry and materials, my country currently ranks first in the world in the number of papers published in related fields. Of course, there are many top-published papers, but it will still be "stuck" in the manufacture of high-end materials in some major national projects. .
The greatest value of a paper lies in broadening the boundaries of human knowledge through practice . Therefore, no matter how many top journals there are, it still has to return to the time and practice dimension to judge.
Only when colleges and universities play a fundamental role in "full-chain innovation" and dig deep into the basic research fields that are related to the country's major needs, can they continue to loosen the locks of confinement. And this requires the joint efforts of every scholar.
As Zhong Zhangtei, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said, “This is like a long-distance race. Publishing a top journal paper can only mean that you have entered the top few today, but if you don’t continue to run hard, you will definitely fall behind tomorrow.” behind others."
