Collaboration with Global South countries

Collaboration, in the form of gold OA article co-authorship between China and the Global South, reinforces China’s positive impact on the Global South and has expanded significantly over recent years. In terms of citation impact and Altmetric Score, these collaborations have been beneficial to both China and the Global South. 

The number of co-authored gold OA articles industry-wide between China and the Global South has grown strongly over the past 5 years from 11,000 in 2020 to 19,000 in 2024, equating to a CAGR of 15%. This rise in the number of publications has also been accompanied by a rise in the proportion of gold OA articles among all co-authored articles, growing from 31% in 2020 to 35% in 2024.  

The number of articles co-authored between China and the Global South has increased as a proportion of the total number of Global South gold OA articles. In 2020, 2.8% of 382,000 Global South gold OA articles were co-authored between China and the Global South, which grew to 3.8% of 506,000 in 2024.  

The accumulated impact of these collaborative articles has also increased noticeably. In 2020, gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South generated 195,000 citations in the two years following their publication, and those published in 2022 generated 303,000 citations.  

Figure 12: Growth in the number of China Gold OA articles co-authored with the Global South and their 2-year citation impact

The number of two-year citations per article was far higher for gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South in comparison to all Global South gold OA articles and all China gold OA articles. In 2020, there were 18.1 citations per article for gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South compared to 4.8 citations per article for all Global South gold OA articles and 11.7 citations per article for all China gold OA articles. By 2022, there were still 16.1 citations per article for gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South compared to 5.1 citations per article for all Global South gold OA articles and 9.9 citations per article for all China gold OA articles.  

The value of collaboration between China and the Global South is reflected in the Altmetric Score per article in 2024, with an Altmetric Score of 5.4 per article for gold OA papers co-authored by China and the Global South, compared to an Altmetric Score of 1.6 per article for all gold OA articles in the Global South.   

The citation advantage for gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South notably reaches beyond the Global South. The 2022 gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South not only have greater citation impact per article than all Global South gold OA articles, but also have more impact in the rest of the world (outside of the Global South but including China). There were 3.1 times as many citations per article for Global South gold OA articles co-authored with China, 23.8 citations per article, compared to 7.7 citations per article for all Global South gold OA articles. Whereas the Global South gold OA articles have on average 4.3 Global South citations per article, matching 4.3 citations per article from the rest of the world, those Global South gold OA articles co-authored with China have 10.3 Global South citations per article and 17.0 citations per article from the rest of the world.

Figure 13: Citation advantage for gold OA articles co-authored by China and the Global South and published in 2022

The Field of Research level 1 subject areas with the largest number of gold OA articles industry-wide co-authored by China and the Global South include Engineering, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, and Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences. The more than 4,400 Engineering papers accounts for nearly 8% of the Global South’s total articles in that region. Whether measured by total collaborated output or share of collaborations in the Global South’s total articles, the top disciplines all fall within Maths, Physical Sciences and Applied Sciences subject areas. This reflects China’s prominent influence in these fields.

Figure 14: Field of Research level 1 subject areas with the most gold OA articles published in 2022, and co-authored by China and the Global South, industry-wide