The internationalization of Chinese scientific journals: A quantitative comparison of three chemical journals from China, England and Japan

Scientific journals play an important role in international academic information exchange. Their international performance can be evaluated through the comparison of the geographical distribution patterns of authors, citations and subscriptions. In this study we analyzed 3 journals, i.e., Chinese Chemical Letters (China), Chemical Communications (England) and Chemistry Letters (Japan), for their regional distribution patterns of the editorial board members, the authors database, and the citation regions, using the bibliometric method, on the basis of the Web of Science. The results show that, compared with international journals, the Chinese Chemical Letters lags behind in all aspects.