Editorial bias in top-tier education journals: Factors influencing publishable scholarship in China

Though not rare in the gatekeeping practices of journals, editorial bias in China has received scant scholarly attention. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 15 academics and 10 editors in the field of education and collecting data on more than 1,522 scholarly articles published by the Chinese journal Educational Research, we assessed the causes and consequences of editorial bias in a subset of the education journals covered by the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI). Our findings indicate that the editorial biases revealed in some top-tier Chinese education journals were associated mainly with academic fame, rank, and affiliation as well as personal relationships described by the term guanxi. The causes of these biases include the desire to secure the status of CSSCI-listed journals, short-staffed editorial teams, and an inadequate peer-review system. Further, we found these biases to be associated with three particular negative consequences: slowing the professional development of young academics, allowing the publication of mediocre articles and compromising the Chinese academic environment. We conclude that journal editors, reviewers and academics must work together to safeguard a rigorous and constructive scholarly publishing system in China.