The 5th Forum for World STM Journals, the first activity of the 24th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) opened in Changsha of Hunan Province on June 24, 2022.

The 5th Forum for World STM Journals opens in Changsha of Hunan Province on June 24, 2022.

With the theme of "sharing science and sharing the future", the forum focused on the key issues of the development of STM journals in the context of open science, and invited representatives of well-known sci-tech organizations, academic institutions and publishing agencies both at home and abroad to conduct in-depth discussions.

Zhang Yuzhuo, secretary of the leading Party members group, vice president in charge of daily work, chief executive secretary of the Secretariat of CAST, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) delivered a video speech at the opening ceremony.

He pointed out that with the development of the Internet and the new generation of information technologies, open science had played an important role in promoting cooperation, driving development and responding to global challenges. The booming open science movement had a profound impact on scientific research pattern and STM journal publishing models.

He stressed to promote grassroots organizations-based collaboration to bridge digital divide and narrow knowledge gap. He urged to deploy open scientific facilities, cultivate open access journals and establish top service platforms to disseminate sci-tech achievements and transform them into actual productive forces.

He said that as a joint association of 213 national societies in China, CAST is willing to join hands with international peers and publishing agencies to push the open science movement to go deep.

At the opening ceremony, DataDimension, a one-stop scientific research service platform developed by the China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation, and SciOpen, an international communication platform developed by the Tsinghua University Press to promote CAST’s brand program of “Action Plan for Excellent STM Journals” were released, demonstrating the latest achievements of Chinese institutions in building open science infrastructures.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Zhang Guihua, member of the leading Party members group and executive secretary of the Secretariat of CAST.

Gao Hongjun, vice president of CAST, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and academician of CAS, presided over the keynote speech session.

Caroline Sutton, CEO of the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, Abel Packer, co-founder of SciELO, the Brazilian Scientific Online Library, Geoffrey Boulton, outgoing president of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, former council member of the Royal Society, and former vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, and Liz Ferguson, global senior vice president of Wiley, shared practices and experiences of different countries and regions in constructing platforms and promoting open science through online lectures.

Zhang Tieming, president of the Society of China University Journals, delivered a lecture entitled “Practice and Prospect of Open Access of Chinese Sci-tech Journals” to introduce achievements and future direction of China's sci-tech circles, publication agencies and research institutions in open science publishing and resources aggregation.

The forum set 2 parallel sessions namely “International Development Strategy of New Journals with a High Starting Point” and “Promoting the Practice of Open Science in China” to discuss on hot topics of “How to enhance international influence of China’s STM journals” and “How to promote in-depth development of open science in China”.

The forum held a special communication session to promote CAST’s brand program of “Action Plan for Excellent STM Journals”, inviting representatives of the program-funded journals in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Chongqing to share achievements and facing challenges on June 25. Experts from the publishing industry both at home and abroad were invited to give advices.

The forum got strong support from the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers, Springer Nature, Elsevier, Wiley, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and other organizations.

More than 400 representatives from the CAS, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC), STM publication agencies and relevant institutions participated in the forum both online and on-spot.

Tag: Department of Sci-tech Innovation, 24th Annual Meeting of CAST