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The role of Web of Science publications in China’s tenure system

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Abstract

Tenure provides a permanent position to faculty in higher education institutions. In North America, it is granted to those who have established a record of excellence in research, teaching and services in a limited period. However, in China, research excellence (represented by the number of Web of Science publications) is highly weighted in the tenure assessment compared to excellence in teaching and services, but this has never been systematically investigated. By analyzing the tenure assessment documents from Chinese Universities, this study reveals the role of Web of Science publications in China’s tenure system and presents the landscape of the tenure assessment process in Chinese higher education institutions.

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Notes

  1. In this study, China refers to mainland China, which is the geopolitical area under the direct jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.

  2. Double World-Class is a Chinese national research program to comprehensively develop a group of elite Chinese universities and individual university departments into world-class universities and disciplines by the end of 2050. (See http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2015-11/05/content_10269.htm).

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Acknowledgements

This study was partly supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada [75620190196], Youth Program of National Social Science Fund in China (15CTQ035) and China Scholarship Council (ID: 201906845042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Academy of Science and Education Evaluation (CASSE), Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Shu & Junping Qiu

  2. École de Bibliothéconomie et des Sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Fei Shu & Vincent Larivière

  3. Educational Science Research Institute, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Quan

  4. School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Bikun Chen

  5. School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Cassidy R. Sugimoto

  6. Observatoire des Sciences et des Technologies (OST), Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Science et la Technologie (CIRST), Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Vincent Larivière

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  1. Fei Shu
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  2. Wei Quan
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  3. Bikun Chen
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  4. Junping Qiu
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  5. Cassidy R. Sugimoto
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  6. Vincent Larivière
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Correspondence to Fei Shu.

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Shu, F., Quan, W., Chen, B. et al. The role of Web of Science publications in China’s tenure system. Scientometrics 122, 1683–1695 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03339-x

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