Gold OA benefits China’s priority disciplines  

Articles published in China’s priority areas—those areas where China is publishing the largest number of articles in 2022—are also having the greatest impact in the Global South by gaining the most citations. Typically, this is true whether the data is considered by Dimensions’ 22 Field of Research level 1 subject areas, Dimensions’ 171 Field of Research level 2 subject areas, or by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Gold OA benefits:
Field of Research level 1 

China’s top five Field of Research level 1 subject areas, in terms of the number of gold OA articles published in 2022, are Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Information and Computing Sciences. These are also the areas which gain the most Global South citations. The Global South citations per article for these subject areas ranges from 2.3 for Biomedical and Clinical Sciences to 4.0 for Chemical Sciences.

Gold OA benefits:
Field of Research level 2 

The five Field of Research level 2 subject areas with the greatest citation impact in the Global South for articles published in 2022 are Clinical Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Materials Engineering, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Microbiology. These subject areas also have the largest volume of gold OA articles with the exception of Microbiology. Microbiology has fewer gold OA articles (9,384) than Civil Engineering (9,515), although a higher number of citations (31,000 rather than 17,000).

The Global South citations per article for the top five subject areas with the largest accumulated impact for China’s gold OA articles range from 1.6 for Clinical Sciences to 4.0 for Materials Engineering.

Gold OA benefits:
SDGs 

Those United Nations’ SDG categories where China’s gold OA articles are most numerous in 2022 are also having the greatest impact in the Global South. This supports previous research that has found that OA research is more likely to be cited by SDG policy documents in lower- and middle-income countries.⁸ The five largest areas by SDG category, in terms of the number of China gold OA articles industry-wide, are Good Health and Well-being (goal 3), Affordable and Clean Energy (goal 7), Climate Action (goal 13), Life on Land (goal 15), and Zero Hunger (goal 2), and these have gained the most Global South citations. Life on Land doesn’t typically appear amongst the largest areas by article volume – its high ranking for China may reflect the geographically diverse nature of China. The Global South citations per article for these top five SDGs ranges from 2.7 citations per article for Life on Land to 6.2 citations per article for Zero Hunger. Of all the SDGs, Clean Water and Sanitation (goal 6) has the largest number of Global South citations per article with 9.8, reflecting both the size of the challenge and its importance to the Global South.

⁸ Springer Nature & Overton. (2025). From publications to policy: The impact of research towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. https://stories.springernature.com/sdg-impact-report/