China Launches First English-Language Data Journal

China has launched its first English-language data journal, Data Express (DE), marking a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to enhance international academic exchange and position itself as a major player in global scientific data sharing. The journal was unveiled on June 23 at a conference in Beijing hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

A Strategic Leap for Scientific Data

Data Express is positioned as a flagship comprehensive data publishing platform, with CAS academician and ecologist Yu Guirui serving as its editor-in-chief. The launch represents a strategic response to what CAS officials describe as a historic paradigm shift in scientific research, where data has become a critical pillar of AI-driven discovery.

According to People’s Daily, the journal is sponsored by CAS and operated by the CAS Computer Network Information Center. It will be hosted on the SciEngine platform, a domestically developed digital publishing system that connects with nearly 20 international databases including Web of Science and Scopus.

Addressing the “Both Ends Outside” Dilemma

The initiative directly tackles what Chinese scientists call the “both ends outside” problem — where Chinese researchers historically published papers in foreign journals and stored data on foreign platforms. This created vulnerabilities in data sovereignty and limited the international visibility of Chinese research outputs.

“China has vast amounts of scientific data obtained at great cost, but it can be stored yet not published; published yet not influential,” Yu Guirui told People’s Daily. “We lack a publishing platform that represents national standards and has international voice. Choosing to launch an English-language journal is to let China’s high-value data stand directly on the international stage.”

A Comprehensive Journal Cluster

Data Express is the cornerstone of an ambitious plan to build a “1 flagship comprehensive journal + N discipline-specific journals” cluster. According to CAS, 19 discipline-specific data journals are planned within the next year, covering fields including physics, ecology, ocean science, biomedicine, materials science, engineering, agriculture, and AI corpus research.

Sun Degang, Party Secretary of the CAS Computer Network Information Center, described the initiative as representing “two leaps: from ‘single journal exploration’ to ‘cluster leadership,’ and from ‘domestic pioneering exploration’ to ‘international collaborative leadership.’”

Building on a Decade of Progress

The launch builds on the foundation of China’s first Chinese-language data journal, China Scientific Data, launched by CAS in 2015. That journal established the groundwork for a Chinese data publishing ecosystem. Data Express now extends that capability into the English-language international sphere, placing China’s timeline nearly in step with leading global data journals such as Elsevier’s Data in Brief and Springer Nature’s Scientific Data, both launched around 2014.

AI Competition and Data as Strategic Resource

The journal’s launch is explicitly framed within the context of AI-driven scientific discovery. Yu Guirui emphasized that “in the future, international competition in AI will essentially manifest as competition for high-quality data resources.” He explained that while traditional papers answer ‘what was discovered,’ data answers ‘what we actually observed’ — making raw, machine-readable datasets a foundational resource for reliable AI-driven science.

Zhang Fan, Deputy General Manager of China Science Publishing & Media, noted that “the data we feed into AI models may be even more valuable than individual papers,” underscoring the strategic importance of keeping high-value data on accessible platforms.

Recognition for Data Papers

In a move that could reshape academic incentives, CAS is drafting guiding measures to encourage institutes to include data paper contributions in professional promotion and degree-awarding evaluations. Zhang Yun, Deputy Director of the CAS Bureau of Basic Capacity for Science and Technology, confirmed that “data papers are recognized as formal academic outputs.”

Unlike conventional academic articles that typically publish only positive findings, Data Express will also welcome well-documented negative or null results, Zhang Fan added — a policy that could significantly increase the volume and diversity of published scientific data.

Global Implications

The launch of Data Express carries significant implications for the global scientific publishing landscape. It represents China’s entry as a major player in data publishing, potentially reshaping competitive dynamics in a field long dominated by Western publishers. The journal aligns with international FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), aiming to participate directly in the global framework for scientific data management.

However, challenges remain. The new journal must build credibility and impact factor from scratch, compete with established titles that have a decade-long head start, and overcome potential international concerns about peer review rigor and data quality standards.

What’s Next

With the flagship journal now launched, attention turns to the rollout of the 19 discipline-specific journals planned for the coming year. The success of this ambitious cluster model will depend on attracting high-quality submissions from both Chinese and international researchers, establishing rigorous peer review standards, and building the trust necessary to position Data Express as a truly global platform for scientific data exchange.

As Yu Guirui put it: “We expect every piece of high-value scientific data,凝结 with dedication, to be discovered and shared — becoming a new language connecting the world.”