China Launches First English Data Journal ‘Data Express’
China has launched its first English-language data journal, Data Express (《数据快报（英文）》), marking a strategic push to establish itself as a global hub for scientific data publishing. The journal, which debuted on June 23, 2026, at a Beijing conference hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is positioned as a top-tier comprehensive data publishing platform and represents the flagship of a much larger ambition: a planned cluster of 20 journals spanning disciplines from AI corpus research to biomedicine.
A Strategic Leap for Chinese Science
Sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and edited by CAS academician Yu Guirui, a leading ecologist, Data Express aims to address what Yu described as a critical gap: China’s vast scientific data resources have long faced a dilemma where they “can be stored, but cannot be published; can be published, but lack influence,” as reported by People’s Daily.
The launch comes a decade after CAS launched China Scientific Data (《中国科学数据》), the country’s first Chinese-language data journal, in 2015. Data Express represents the next evolutionary step—an English-language journal designed for global reach, complemented by a planned rollout of 19 discipline-specific titles within the coming year.
The AI and Data Sovereignty Imperative
The initiative is explicitly framed around the transformative role of data in the age of artificial intelligence. “Future AI international competition is essentially competition for high-quality data resources,” Yu Guirui told reporters. He explained that while traditional papers answer “what was discovered,” data answers “what we actually observed”—a distinction that becomes critical as AI-driven science depends on massive, high-standard datasets as “fuel” for reliable discoveries.
Sun Degang, Party Secretary of the CAS Computer Network Information Center, characterized the progress as “two leaps”: from single-journal exploration to cluster leadership, and from domestic pioneering to international collaborative leadership, as detailed by China Daily. He described scientific data as a “strategic national resource” in the big data and AI era, with data journals serving as a “crucial lever” for encouraging open data sharing and improving data governance.
Addressing the ‘Both Ends Outside’ Dilemma
A key driver behind the launch is China’s concern over what Zhang Fan, Deputy General Manager of China Science Publishing & Media, called the “both ends outside” dilemma—Chinese scientists publishing papers on foreign platforms like Elsevier and Springer while storing their data abroad. The journal cluster will be supported by SciEngine, a domestically developed publishing platform that connects with international databases including Web of Science and Scopus, as reported by China Daily.
“Scientific data is a strategic resource, especially in the AI era,” Zhang Fan said. “The data we feed into AI models may be even more valuable than individual papers.” He noted that SciEngine already serves more than 1,000 journals and connects with nearly 20 international databases, positioning China to “run neck and neck with, or even surpass, international leaders in this emerging field.”
Academic Evaluation Reform
The CAS is also drafting measures to recognize data papers as formal academic outputs for professional promotion and degree evaluations, according to Zhang Yun, Deputy Director of the CAS Bureau of Basic Capacity for Science and Technology. With Chinese scholars accounting for nearly 40% of the world’s high-quality scientific papers, this shift in incentives could significantly accelerate data sharing across Chinese research institutions.
The 19 discipline-specific journals are designed to correspond with established sub-centers within China’s national science data center system, ensuring a steady pipeline of high-quality data submissions in fields ranging from ecology and oceanography to engineering and biomedicine.
Global Implications
The clustered launch of 20 journals represents a significant competitive challenge to established Western data journals such as Elsevier’s Data in Brief and Springer Nature’s Scientific Data, which emerged around 2014. By publishing in English and connecting to international databases, China aims to shape global scientific data standards and practices.
Yu Guirui emphasized the collaborative vision: “Science knows no borders. Data circulation and collaboration require global sharing.” He expressed hope that every valuable scientific dataset “can be discovered and shared, becoming a new language connecting the world.”
What to Watch
Key questions remain about the journal’s peer review process for dataset validation, access models (open access versus fee-based), and how international researchers will be able to submit and access data. The rollout timeline for the 19 specialized journals will also be closely watched by the global scientific publishing community.
China’s move comes amid a broader push for scientific self-reliance, including investments in AI infrastructure, initiatives to boost data infrastructure launched in April 2026, and Shanghai’s pilot program for global data cooperation in May 2026—all signaling that data publishing leadership is now a central pillar of China’s science and technology strategy.