GoKawiilChina launches Vita, a free open-access journal aiming to rival top science titles
Vita is a new English-language, open-access biology journal jointly funded by China's Higher Education Press and Westlake University, with its first print issue released in July. It waives article-processing charges for authors and is fully Chinese-owned and Chinese-published, unlike many past China-based journals that partnered with international publishers.
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The launch is part of China's Journal Excellence Action Plan, begun in 2019, which aims to build globally prestigious journals rather than relying on foreign publishers. Analysts like Chen Fuyou suggest this could let China define standards for quality research and control which papers get published, potentially shifting influence in global scientific publishing. Waiving fees may also make Vita attractive to authors, though whether it can achieve the prestige of established journals remains untested.
- Vita is a free, open-access biology journal fully owned and published by Chinese institutions.
- It is part of China's broader push since 2019 to build world-class, Chinese-controlled scientific journals.
- Analysts suggest such journals could let China set its own standards for high-quality research and publishing decisions.
Source: nature.com — You, 2026-09-29
Published there as: “China wants to build world-leading science journals — can it be done?”
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