Abstract
International scholarly relations have been hegemonic in form and Euro-American in content. In academic publishing, inequalities have been widely sustained. This case is even worse in the human and social sciences. Despite a wealth of literature on such a longstanding theme, little research has focused on actual measures to combat the hegemony. Empirical studies have been especially lacking. Against the backdrop of a rising Chinese power, establishing English-medium learned journals is proactively designated to project China’s contemporary scholarship globally. Through content and citation analyses and interviews with three editors, this article empirically examines Frontiers of Education in China, China’s first English-medium journal in education to investigate how China engages with the international community in educational research. Reporting both interrogation and reproduction of the Anglo–American hegemony, the study calls for substantial cross-cultural intellectual dialogue and epistemological pluralism.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Throughout this article, “China” is used to refer to “mainland China” for short.
The other nine journals are International Journal of Chinese Education, ECNU Review of Education, Bei**g International Review of Education, Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, Journal of Computers in Education, Smart Learning Environments, International Journal of Smart Technology and Learning, Entrepreneurship Education, and Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research.
See Pan (2011) for an example.
References
Alatas, S. F. (2003). Academic dependency and the global division of labor in the social sciences. Current Sociology, 51(6), 599–613. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921030516003
Alatas, S. F. (2006). Alternative discourses in Asian social science. Sage Publications.
Altbach, P. G. (1998). Comparative higher education: Knowledge, the university, and development. Alex Publishing Corporation.
Anderson-Levitt, K. M. (2014). Significance: Recognizing the value of research across national and linguistic boundaries. Asia Pacific Education Review, 15(3), 347–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-014-9322-0
Budd, J., & Magnuson, L. (2010). Higher education literature revisited: Citation patterns examined. Research in Higher Education, 51(3), 294–304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-009-9155-6
Chen, X. (2016). Challenges and strategies of teaching qualitative research in China. Qualitative Inquiry, 22(2), 72–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800415617209
Cheng, Q. (2014). Quality mathematics instructional practices contributing to student achievements in five high-achieving Asian education systems: An analysis using TIMSS 2011 data. Frontiers of Education in China, 9(4), 493–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03397038
China Education Daily. (2021, June 17). Educational Research declares to publish an English version. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1702773646682779272&wfr=spider&for=pc
Clarivate Analytics. (2021). 2020 Journal Citation Reports. Retrieved 23 March, 2022, from https://jcr.clarivate.com/jcr/browse-journals
Connell, R. (2007). Southern theory: the global dynamics of knowledge in social science. Cambridge & Malden: Polity Press.
Dimmock, C. (2020). Connecting research and knowledge on educational leadership in the West and Asia: Adopting a cross-cultural comparative perspective. Comparative Education, 56(2), 257–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2019.1703393
Geerlings, L. R. C., & Lundberg, A. (2018). Global discourses and power/knowledge: Theoretical reflections on futures of higher education during the rise of Asia. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 38(2), 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2018.1460259
Gingras, Y., & Mosbah-Natanson, S. (2010). Where are social sciences produced? In I. S. S. Council (Ed.), World Social Science Report 2010 (pp. 149–153). UNESCO Publishing.
Guest, G., MacQueen, K., & Namey, E. (2012). Applied Thematic Analysis. Sage Publications.
Hayhoe, R., & Pan, J. (2001). Knowledge Across Cultures: A Contribution to Dialogue among Civilizations. Comparative Education Research Center.
Hoang, C. H., & Turner, M. (2020). Framing Vietnamese scholars’ negotiation of knowledge production: A positioning perspective. Comparative Education, 56(4), 565–582. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2020.1771871
Horta, H., & Shen, W. (2020). Current and future challenges of the Chinese research system. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 42(2), 157–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2019.1632162
Huang, Y., & Miao, W. (2021). The internationalization of Chinese English-language humanities and social sciences journals: Their status and challenges. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 52(4), 273–293. https://doi.org/10.3138/jsp.52.4.05
Hwang, K. (2016). Academic self-colonization and the crisis of higher education: A comparison between Taiwan and Mainland China. In C. Chou & J. Spangler (Eds.), Chinese Education Models in a Global Age (pp. 77–86). Springer.
Kuhn, M., & Yazawa, S. (2013). Theories about and strategies against hegemonic social sciences. Center for Glocal Studies. Seijo University.
Li, M. Y., & Yang, R. (2020). Enduring hardships in global knowledge asymmetries: A national scenario of China’s English-language academic journals in the humanities and social sciences. Higher Education, 80(1), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00476-3
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing in a global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. Routledge.
Liu, L., & Lin, D. (2008). Difficulties and outlets: On paradigm of China’s pedagogy. Frontiers of Education in China, 3(2), 163–177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-008-0011-9
Marginson, S. (2018). National/global synergy in the development of higher education and science in China since 1978. Frontiers of Education in China, 13(4), 486–512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-018-0027-8
Marginson, S., & Xu, X. (2021). Moving beyond center-periphery science: towards an ecology of knowledge. Center for Global Higher Education Working Paper Series. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f139bfcc-1e7b-4fbd-879a-f44732058c21
Miao, W., & Huang, Y. (2021). Politics matters: The power dynamics behind Chinese English-language humanities and social science journals. Learned Publishing, 34(3), 331–338. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1364
Pan, S. (2011). Education abroad, human capital development, and national competitiveness: China’s brain gain strategies. Frontiers of Education in China, 6(1), 106–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-011-0124-4
Park, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (2008). Korean journals in the Science Citation Index: what do they reveal about the intellectual structure of S&T in Korea?. Scientometrics, 75(3), 439–462. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1862-1
Sun, Q., & Roumell, E. (2017). Interrupting the mindset of educational neocolonialism: Critical deliberations from East and West international adult educators. Asia Pacific Education Review, 18(3), 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-017-9482-9
Swaan, A. (2001). English in the social sciences. In U. Ammon (Ed.), The dominance of English as a language of science: Effects on other language and language communities (pp. 71–84). Mouton de Gruyter.
Takayama, K. (2011). A Comparativist’s predicaments of writing about ‘other’ education: A self-reflective, critical view of studies of Japanese education. Comparative Education, 47(4), 449–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2011.561542
Takayama, K. (2016). Beyond ‘the West as method’: Repositioning the Japanese education research communities in/against the global structure of academic knowledge. Educational Studies in Japan: International Yearbook, 10, 19–31.
Thomas, M. (2018). Research capacity and dissemination among academics in Tanzania: examining knowledge production and the perceived binary of ‘local’ and ‘international’ journals. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 48(2), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1318046
Tierney, R. (2018). Global educational research in Western times: The rise and plight of Chinese educational research. Frontiers of Education in China, 13(2), 163–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-018-0010-4
Viera, A. J., & Garrett, J. M. (2005). Understanding interobserver agreement: The kappa statistic. Family Medicine, 37(5), 360–363.
Wallerstein, I. (2004). World-systems analysis: An introduction. Duke University Press.
Wang, D., & Ding, G. (2019). Zhongguo jiaoyu yanjiu de guoji fabiao gaimao yu tezheng [Overview and Characteristics of International Publication of Chinese Educational Research]. Jiaoyu Fazhan Yanjiu [research in Educational Development], 3, 1–9.
Wang, L., & Nesi, H. (2018). The adaptation of Chinese split-site business students to British classrooms: A cross-cultural perspective. Frontiers of Education in China, 13(3), 401–425. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-018-0019-8
**e, M. (2018). Living with internationalization: The changing face of the academic life of Chinese social scientists. Higher Education, 75(3), 381–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0145-x
Xu, X. (2020). China ‘Goes Out’ in a center-periphery world: Incentivizing international publications in the humanities and social sciences. Higher Education, 80(1), 157–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00470-9
Xu, X. (2021). A policy trajectory analysis of the internationalization of Chinese humanities and social sciences research (1978–2020). International Journal of Educational Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102425
Xu, J., & Wahls, M. (2012). The scholarly publishing in China: Overview and opportunities. Learned Publishing, 25(1), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1087/20120109
Xu, J., Wang, L., Zhou, L., & Liu, F. (2019). Internationalization of China’s English-language journals: An overview and three approaches. Learned Publishing, 32(2), 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1198
Yang, R. (2013). Indigenized while internationalized? Tensions and dilemmas in China’s modern transformation of social sciences in an age of globalization. In M. Kuhn & K. Okamoto (Eds.), Spatial Social Thought: Local Knowledge in Global Science Encounters (pp. 43–61). Stuttgart.
Yang, R., **e, M., & Wen, W. (2019). Pilgrimage to the west: modern transformations of Chinese intellectual formation in social sciences. Higher Education, 77(4), 815–829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0303-9
Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Yuan, Z. (2022). Empirical research becoming the most powerful driver of the scientific development of educational research in China. ECNU Review of Education, 5(3), 393–396. https://doi.org/10.1177/20965311221115751
Zhang, Y., Bao, F., Wu, J., & Lin, H. (2019). Reflections on the international impact of Chinese STM journals. Learned Publishing, 32(2), 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1203
Zhang, L., Shang, Y., Huang, Y., & Sivertsen, G. (2020). Toward internationalization: A bibliometric analysis of the social sciences in mainland China from 1979–2018. Quantitative Science Studies, 2(1), 376–408. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00102
Zhao, G. (2010). Chinese cultural dynamics and childhood: Towards a new individuality for education. Frontiers of Education in China, 5(4), 579–595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-010-0117-8
Zhao, Y., Zhang, G., Yang, W., Kirkland, D., Han, X., & Zhang, J. (2008). A comparative study of educational research in China and the United States. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 28(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188790701849826
Zhao, J., Beckett, G., & Wang, L. (2017). Evaluating the research quality of education journals in China: Implications for increasing global impact in peripheral countries. Review of Educational Research, 87(3), 583–618. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654317690813
Zhou, Q., Wang, X., & Yao, L. (2007). A preliminary investigation into critical thinking of urban **’an high school students. Frontiers of Education in China, 2(3), 447–468. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0036-5
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All participants participated voluntarily and provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Research ethics approval was obtained by the Human Research Ethics Committee, University of Hong Kong (Reference Number: EA1703033).
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Li, M., Yang, R. English-medium journals as a bridge: A study of Frontiers of Education in China. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-023-09836-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-023-09836-2