Brief
China launches open‑access journal Vita to rival Western titles
Vita, a Chinese‑owned journal, will publish biology papers without article‑processing charges, according to Nature.
By Felo News Desk · Published
China has announced the launch of Vita, an open‑access biology journal that will not charge authors for publication. The journal is jointly funded by the Higher Education Press, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Education, and Westlake University in Hangzhou, according to the journal’s editorial team.
Vita’s model waives article‑processing charges (APCs), a fee that many international publishers charge to make work open access. In August, co‑editor‑in‑chief Li Dangsheng told the state‑run newspaper Jiefang Daily that the absence of APCs will allow the journal to focus on quality and attract high‑quality papers from overseas authors.
The initiative is part of China’s Journal Excellence Action Plan, launched in 2019, which seeks to raise the country’s presence in the global scientific community. Chinese scientists say that having a Chinese‑owned journal will let China define what constitutes high‑quality research and decide which papers to publish.
In 2024, Chinese scholars spent US$909 million on APCs, about 30% of the total earned by global publishers, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since March, CAS has stopped funding APCs for 30 of the most expensive open‑access journals.
James Butcher, a former publisher at Nature‑branded journals and The Lancet, notes that while the model may attract authors, sustaining it long‑term could be challenging because publishing is expensive and funders may be reluctant to cover APCs for foreign authors.
Key facts
- Vita is a Chinese‑owned, open‑access biology journal (nature.com)
- It is funded by the Higher Education Press and Westlake University (nature.com)
- Vita waives article‑processing charges for authors (nature.com)
- The launch is part of China’s Journal Excellence Action Plan begun in 2019 (nature.com)
- Chinese scholars spent US$909 million on APCs in 2024 (nature.com)
Sources
- [1] nature.com — originally reported as “China wants to build world-leading science journals — can it be done?”
