Journals: Rapid increase in sci-tech papers

At the same time, the number of China's sci-tech papers increased. Between 2001 and 2011, Chinese scientists published 836,300 international papers. In 2010 alone, they authored 121,500 international papers.

"This number is still too small compared with the total output of papers in China," Wu said.

As of 2011, only 20 percent of China's SCI papers were published in domestic journals. The rest went to foreign journals.

Wu said the most obvious reason for China's sci-tech journals lagging behind is language.

"In the United Nations, you may have different working languages, but in the international science community, English is the de facto working language," he said.

Out of more than 5,000 domestic sci-tech journals in China, about 200 are published in English.

"The percentage of China's journals in English is far lower than that of Poland, Hungary, the Republic of Korea and Japan, and many other countries," Wu said.

Nevertheless, Wu blames too much government intervention for hampering the development of science journals.

"In recent years, very few sci-tech journals were approved, sometimes fewer than 10 a year, due to strict scrutiny by the General Administration of Press and Publication.

"If it (the administration) just stops restraining the total number of journals, ... good sci-tech journals will survive in a competitive market and bad journals will be eliminated."

Wu also said most of China's sci-tech journals are run by inexperienced managers.

"Some world-famous publishers have 30 percent profit margins, but most of China's academic journals hardly make money," Wu said.