China gold OA disseminates scientific knowledge to the Global South

China’s gold OA articles play a significant role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge to the Global South. China gold OA articles published industry-wide in 2022 generated 1.53 million citations from publications outside China. Of these, 742,000 citations came from the Global South, an average of 2.6 citations per article, and 19% of the total citations. This compares with 2.38 million citations from articles with an author in China (61% of total citations), and 1.24 million citations with an author in the rest of the world (32% of total citations). 

The dissemination of scientific knowledge reaches across the globe, with the Middle East, South Asia, South-East Asia, Africa and South America all represented in the top fifteen most citing countries in the Global South. The top 3 countries in the Global South with the highest number of citations to China’s gold OA articles were: India with 232,000 citations to over 88,000 articles; Saudi Arabia with 82,000 citations to 41,000 articles; and Iran with 80,000 citations to 45,000 articles.     

A light-hearted illustration representing the top 3 countries in the Global South with the highest number of citations to China’s gold OA articles.

Figure 3: Top 15 Global South countries with the highest citations to China’s gold OA articles published industry-wide in 2022 

Bar chart showing the top 15 countries in the Global South with the highest number of citations to China’s gold OA articles. Click the button below to access the figure data in a table format.

Table 3: Top 15 Global South countries with the highest citations to China’s gold OA articles published industry-wide in 2022 

Global South country

Citations

India

232,258

Saudi Arabia

81,949

Iran

80,094

Pakistan

56,944

Egypt

49,494

Brazil

46,639

Malaysia

45,695

Indonesia

37,025

Singapore

31,656

Thailand

26,584

Iraq

20,170

South Africa

20,074

United Arab Emirates

19,342

Bangladesh

16,378

Nigeria

16,124

Gold OA advantage in the Global South 

China’s OA articles in hybrid journals are having a greater impact per article in the Global South than non-OA articles, showing the effectiveness of gold OA in disseminating scientific knowledge and the vital role that it plays in amplifying the global reach and impact of China’s research.  

In Springer Nature hybrid journals that have published more than 10 OA articles in China between 2020 and 2022, the OA articles have almost twice the number of citations per article as non-OA articles (92% more): 5.2 Global South citations per OA article in comparison to 2.7 citations per article for non-OA articles. The OA articles in Springer Nature hybrid journals also have over 4.8 times more downloads per article in the Global South. Whereas non-OA articles have 156 downloads per article in the Global South on average, OA articles in hybrid journals have an average of 757 downloads per article.

Figure 4: Springer Nature hybrid OA articles (2020-2022) have more Global South citations and downloads per article

Bar chart comparing citations and downloads per article for non-OA and hybrid OA articles. Springer Nature hybrid OA articles clearly have more global south citations and downloads per article. The chart data is repeated in a table format immediately below.

Table 4: Springer Nature hybrid OA articles (2020-2022) have more Global South citations and downloads per article

Article

Global South citations per article

Global South downloads per article

Non-OA

2.7

156

Hybrid OA

5.2

757

The OA advantage can also be seen within individual journals. 9 out of the 10 Springer Nature hybrid journals with the most OA article downloads in the Global South have more citations in the Global South per OA article than per non-OA article. All 10 have higher Global South downloads per OA article than non-OA article. For example, in the hybrid journal Oncogene, OA articles gain 4.2 citations and 624 downloads per article in the Global South, whereas non-OA articles in the same journal only gain 2.8 citations and 59 downloads per article. This clearly demonstrates the OA advantage.

Figure 5: Citations per article in top 10 Springer Nature hybrid journals (2020-2022) with the most OA downloads in the Global South  

Bar chart showing the top 10 Springer Nature hybrid journals with the most OA downloads in the Global South. Click the button below to access the figure data in a table format.

Table 5: Citations per article in top 10 Springer Nature hybrid journals (2020-2022) with the most OA downloads in the Global South

Journal title

Global South citations per article: Non-OA

Global South citations per article: Hybrid OA

Oncogene

2.82

4.19

British Journal of Cancer

2.31

4.54

Cell Death & Differentiation

2.76

4.62

European Radiology

3.70

10.72

Molecular Neurobiology

2.49

4.86

Climate Dynamics

1.74

1.84

Current Psychology

2.23

3.78

Molecular Psychiatry

5.38

4.39

Molecular Biology Reports

2.15

4.55

Applied Intelligence

3.32

3.43

CASE STUDY:

Gold OA advantage in the Global South for China’s Springer Nature partner journals

Springer Nature has 184 partner journals in China with articles published between 2020 and 2022, including both hybrid and full OA journals. Among these journals, the impact in the Global South of full OA articles was greatest, measured by both citations per article and downloads per article: articles in full OA journals received 5.5 citations and 1,142 downloads; OA articles in hybrid journals received 2.8 citations and 552 downloads; and non-OA articles received 1.0 citations and 45 downloads. This equates to OA articles in Springer Nature hybrid journals receiving 2.7 times as many citations and 12.4 times as many downloads as non-OA articles, while OA articles in full OA journals receive 5.4 times as many citations and 25.6 times as many downloads as the non-OA articles.  

Figure 6: Impact of partner journals published between 2020 and 2022 with Springer Nature  

Two bar graphs showing how Springer Nature's fully OA partner journals have significantly more Global South citations and downloads per article, than hybrid OA and subscription journals. Click the button below to access the figure data in a table format.

Table 6: Impact of partner journals published between 2020 and 2022 with Springer Nature

Article type

Global South citations per article

Full OA
(n=7,108)

5.5

Hybrid OA
(n=1,526)

2.8

Non-OA
(n=30,010)

1

Article type

Global South downloads per article

Full OA
(n=7,108)

1,142

Hybrid OA
(n=1,526)

552

Non-OA
(n=30,010)

45

Highly regarded academic institutions are having some of the greatest impact 

China’s most highly ranked universities in league tables are having some of the greatest impact in the Global South. The top 20 Chinese institutions, ranked by the number of Global South citations, includes many of the universities that are highly ranked in global league tables. For example, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University are ranked among the top 40 global universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026.7 This may be seen as an important indicator of the quality of the research that is being cited.  

For the top institutions, the number of Global South citations per gold OA article published in 2022 typically ranges from 2.5 to 4.2. The exception is Jiangsu University with 6.6 Global South citations per gold OA article, but this is attributable to one particularly highly cited article co-authored with a researcher in Egypt which received over 2,000 citations.  

The University of Chinese Academy of Sciences has the greatest citation impact of gold OA articles in the Global South, with 9,078 gold OA articles receiving 25,000 Global South citations. This equates to 2.7 Global South citations per article.  

Figure 7: Top 20 institutions that have the greatest impact of gold OA articles published in 2022 in the Global South 

Bar graph ranking the top 20 institutions in China that have the greatest impact of gold OA articles in the Global South. Click the button below to access the figure data in a table format.

Table 7: Top 20 institutions that have the greatest impact of gold OA articles published in 2022 in the Global South

Top 20 institutions

Global South citations

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

24,806

Zhejiang University

20,665

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

18,453

Sichuan University

16,178

Central South University

14,381

Sun Yat-sen University

13,562

Fudan University

12,652

Tsinghua University

11,469

Peking University

11,176

Jiangsu University

10,961

Shandong University

10,065

Wuhan University

10,043

West China Hospital of Sichuan University

9,641

Zhengzhou University

8,858

Tongji University

8,616

China Agricultural University

8,136

Xi'an Jiaotong University

8,017

Chinese Academy of Sciences

7,944

University of Hong Kong

7,826

Shenzhen University

7,811

CASE STUDY:

Springer Nature gold OA articles give institutions a Global South citation advantage

The impact of Springer Nature gold OA articles is higher than is typical for gold OA articles in terms of Global South citations per article. For the top 20 institutions, the Global South citations per article are generally higher than the market as a whole. The University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, for example, has a Global South citation rate per article of 4.7 in Springer Nature journals in comparison to 2.7 for gold OA articles across all publishers. 

Figure 8: Global South citations per article for the top 20 institutions that have the greatest impact of gold OA articles published in 2022 (Springer Nature journals) in the Global South  

A bar graph showing Global South citations per article for the top 20 institutions that have the greatest impact of gold OA articles in the Global South. Click the button below to access the figure data in a table format.

Table 8: Global South citations per article for the top 20 institutions that have the greatest impact of gold OA articles published in 2022 (Springer Nature journals) in the Global South

Institutions

Global South citations per article:
Market

Global South citations per article:
Springer Nature

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

2.73

4.68

Zhejiang University

2.84

4.44

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

2.65

3.48

Sichuan University

3.24

5.81

Central South University

2.75

4.81

Sun Yat-sen University

2.47

3.53

Fudan University

2.60

3.43

Tsinghua University

3.22

5.74

Peking University

2.61

3.82

Jiangsu University

6.56

7.15

Shandong University

2.65

3.96

Wuhan University

3.29

5.26

West China Hospital of Sichuan University

3.15

6.67

Zhengzhou University

3.61

5.77

Tongji University

2.74

5.15

China Agricultural University

3.64

4.22

Xi'an Jiaotong University

2.79

4.26

Chinese Academy of Sciences

2.64

4.47

University of Hong Kong

4.08

4.86

Shenzhen University

4.20

5.60
Next: Gold OA and disciplines

7 Times Higher Education. (n.d.). World University Rankings 2026. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/latest/world-ranking    

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