IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jpubli/v13y2025i3p30-d1685527.html

How China Governs Open Science: Policies, Priorities, and Structural Imbalances

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoting Chen

    (School of Information Resources Management, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
    Groupe d’Étude des Méthodes de l’Analyse Sociologique de la Sorbonne, GEMASS, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75017 Paris, France)

  • Abdelghani Maddi

    (Groupe d’Étude des Méthodes de l’Analyse Sociologique de la Sorbonne, GEMASS, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75017 Paris, France)

  • Yanyan Wang

    (School of Information Resources Management, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

Abstract

This article investigates the architecture and institutional distribution of policy tools supporting open science (OS) in China. Based on a corpus of 199 policy documents comprising 25,885 policy statements, we apply an AI-assisted classification to analyze how the Chinese government mobilizes different types of tools. Using Qwen-plus, a large language model developed by Alibaba Cloud and fine-tuned for OS-related content, each policy statement is categorized into one of fifteen subcategories under three main types: supply-oriented, environment-oriented, and demand-oriented tools. Our findings reveal a strong dominance of supply-oriented tools (63%), especially investments in infrastructure, education, and public services. Demand-oriented tools remain marginal (11%), with little use of economic incentives or regulatory obligations. Environment-oriented tools show more balance but still underrepresent key components like incentive systems and legal mandates for open access. To deepen the analysis, we introduce a normalized indicator of institutional focus, which captures the relative emphasis of each policy type across administrative levels. Results show that supply-oriented tools are concentrated at top-level institutions, reflecting a top-down governance model. Demand tools are localized at lower levels, highlighting limited strategic commitment. Overall, China’s OS policy mix prioritizes infrastructure over incentives, limiting systemic transformation toward a more sustainable open science ecosystem.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoting Chen & Abdelghani Maddi & Yanyan Wang, 2025. "How China Governs Open Science: Policies, Priorities, and Structural Imbalances," Publications, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:30-:d:1685527
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/13/3/30/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/13/3/30/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Birgit Schmidt & Astrid Orth & Gwen Franck & Iryna Kuchma & Petr Knoth & José Carvalho, 2016. "Stepping up Open Science Training for European Research," Publications, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-10, June.
    2. Lin Zhang & Yahui Wei & Ying Huang & Gunnar Sivertsen, 2022. "Should open access lead to closed research? The trends towards paying to perform research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7653-7679, December.
    3. Abrams, Ellen & Leone, Paolo V. & Cambrosio, Alberto & Faraj, Samer, 2025. "The governance of open science: A comparative analysis of two open science consortia," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    4. Hong-Wei Xiao & Jun Wang & Xiao-Ming Fang, 2022. "Frustration over Chinese academic database charges," Nature, Nature, vol. 605(7911), pages 620-620, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xinyi Chen, 2024. "Interactions of Publication Volume, Journal Impact, and Article Processing Charges: Comparative Study of China and Global Practices in Nature Portfolio," Publications, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, December.
    2. María Bordons & Borja González-Albo & Luz Moreno-Solano, 2023. "Improving our understanding of open access: how it relates to funding, internationality of research and scientific leadership," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(8), pages 4651-4676, August.
    3. Vicente-Saez, Ruben & Martinez-Fuentes, Clara, 2018. "Open Science now: A systematic literature review for an integrated definition," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 428-436.
    4. Sandra Miguel & Claudia M. González & Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez, 2024. "Towards a new approach to analyzing the geographical scope of national research. An exploratory analysis at the country level," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(7), pages 3659-3679, July.
    5. Liwei Zhang & Liang Ma, 2023. "Is open science a double-edged sword?: data sharing and the changing citation pattern of Chinese economics articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 2803-2818, May.
    6. Fei Shu & Vincent Larivière, 2024. "The oligopoly of open access publishing," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(1), pages 519-536, January.
    7. Samuel A. Moore, 2023. "The Politics of Rights Retention," Publications, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-9, May.
    8. Marwan Al-Raeei & Chadi Azmeh, 2024. "The Influence of Open Access on Institutional Scientific Research Output in MENA Countries: A Comparative Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(4), pages 21582440241, October.
    9. Heinz Pampel, 2023. "Promoting Open Access in Research-Performing Organizations: Spheres of Activity, Challenges, and Future Action Areas," Publications, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, September.
    10. repec:plo:pbio00:2006022 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Weishu Liu & Rong Ni & Guangyuan Hu, 2024. "Web of Science Core Collection’s coverage expansion: the forgotten Arts & Humanities Citation Index?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(2), pages 933-955, February.
    12. Qianjin Zong & Zhihong Huang & Jiaru Huang, 2023. "Can open access increase LIS research’s policy impact? Using regression analysis and causal inference," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(8), pages 4825-4854, August.
    13. Jing Wang & Willem Halffman & Yuehong Helen Zhang, 2023. "Sorting out journals: The proliferation of journal lists in China," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(10), pages 1207-1228, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:30-:d:1685527. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.