On 15 November, 2018, the Media Publishing Group of the Open University of China (OUC), Distance Education in China magazine, and the Book and Newspaper Information Centre of Renmin University in China jointly held a forum in Beijing on the evaluation and development of academic journals.

Participants pointed out that academic journals should be guided by the National Conference on Education and promote the modernization of education and the construction of a strong nationwide educational system. Academic journals should emphasise quality and attach importance to rankings in order for their relative advantages to emerge.

The participants also pointed out that journal evaluation is an important part of academic collaboration and essential to the growth of academic communities.

All participants agreed that evaluating journals is key to their development, and that many aspects of this are worth further consideration, especially in terms of platform diversification and research cooperation.

Gao Zilong, editor-in-chief of the Book and Newspaper Information Centre of Renmin University of China; Li Chunping, deputy editor-in-chief of Beijing University Education Review; Zhao Fujiang, president of Educational Science Research; Ye An of the Vocational and Technical Education Forum; Liu Jie, deputy editor-in-chief of Education and Vocation; Yang Yu, deputy editor-in-chief of Modern Education Management; Jiang Bo, deputy editor-in-chief of Journal of Suzhou University (Educational Science Edition); Zhang Jun'e, director of the Bibliometrics Centre of the Beijing University Library; Tan Xu, executive editor of pedagogy at the Book and Newspaper Information Centre of Renmin University of China; and Feng Lin of Distance Education in China magazine, gave speeches at the forum.

By Hao Dan,OUC