China – Dissemination
Conferences
A few days before a conference, an announcement is released on the university bulletin boards and website. University administrators or PhD supervisors also send conference information to students by email. For example, students can find information about academic conferences on the website of the School of International Studies at Zhejiang University.
The university and enterprise sponsors usually cover the costs. For a large conference, accommodation, meals, travel, books, printing, photocopying and some other requisite expenses are covered. Most universities do not provide PG students a specific yearly conference allowance; instead students need to apply for funds from their universities or conference sponsors.
Presenting and Publishing Research
Presentations
Students are encouraged to attend and present at conferences. If a student wants to present at conferences, the procedures are similar to those at UK universities: students need to submit abstracts to the conference committee first, then successful applicants will be invited to present. Excellent applicants may be awarded travel and subsistence funds for the conference as well.
Universities encourage students to participate in student clubs and societies. Conferences, workshops and activities run by the students’ organizations are common. For example, students of School of Foreign Languages and Literature at Beijing Normal University often hold their own conferences on various subjects.
Departmental seminars are part of campus culture. For example, PhD students of the Graduate School of Southwest University have held a number of forums in various forms and invited PhD students and renowned professors from other universities to attend.
Most PhD students have academic salons, conferences and workshops in the department. For example, PhD students of the School of International Studies, Zhejiang University have their own academic salons, conferences and workshops. The topics, time and venues of the salons are announced on the school website.
Presentations are not as common at Chinese universities as at UK universities. Students are advised to wear formal clothes to presentations; casual clothes are also fine, but teachers and other students prefer the presenter to be dressed “professionally”. The formality and structure of presentations are similar to UK universities. A few professors and experts are invited to attend and students at different levels are welcome to the presentations. As soon as the presentations are over, professors and experts will comment on the presentations and exchange ideas with the presenters.
Presentation skills are usually taught at most universities as part of modules on general research methods, which are offered as part of the required doctoral curriculum. At ordinary times, especially before formal presentations and open lectures, supervisors will guide their students to try several times on a small scale for unceasing enhancement and improvement.
Publication
In many departments, there are internal discipline-specific periodicals in which students and teachers can publish their work. One such journal is <ING> published at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature at Beijing Normal University.
PG students are encouraged to publish in English in international journals, and they are rewarded for doing so. For example, the School of Economics at Wuhan University of Technology gives bonuses for papers published in international publications. The bonus of a paper published in <Science> or <Nature> is 100,000RMB (10,000GBP). Beijing Institute of Technology has a similar policy.
Each university has its own official and internal publications. In general, internal publications are for teachers and students of the university only.
Publication of PhDs
Electronically
There are two large electronic Chinese databases which co-operate with all the universities to publish PhDs electronically.
1) Wanfang Data provides access to a wide range of database resources, serving as a gateway to Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, engineering, etc.
2) China Doctor Dissertation Full-text Database CDFD, ISSN 1674-022X, sponsored by Tsinghua University, is the only electronic database with state approved standard serial number. It publishes official PhDs. It is the Chinese Knowledge Infrastructure project (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, CNKI).
University-based publishing house
All the 985 and 211 universities and almost all comprehensive universities have their own publishing houses.
Download: China Dissemination Publishers
Independent Publishers
Besides the above, there are many commercial or non-university publishing houses that publish PhDs. The following are some of the most prestigious publishers:
Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press
Beijing Publishing House Group
Social Sciences academic Press
Cost / funding
It is very expensive for PG students to publish their PhDs in China. Therefore, many university publishing houses subsidise the publication. For example, the Graduate School of Wuhan University implemented a policy to publish excellent PhDs in March 2013. According to this policy, the top 100 national PhD papers are published, and papers nominated for either the “national top 100 PhD papers” or “Outstanding PhD papers in Hubei Province” competitions will be given priority and recommended for publication. A few more examples:
China University of Mining and Technology Graduate School
Central University of Finance and Economics School of Finance
Knowledge Transfer Activities
Students are expected to attend conferences both within the university and outside academia. Many universities organise so-called postdoctoral fellows associations. For example, the Postdoctoral Fellows Association of Zhejiang University has already had different types of fraternities with the elites of many social circles to encourage PhD students to present their research outside academia. Not only universities but also governments at all levels, large enterprises have similar associations.
Open lectures
A large number of seminars hosted by PhD students are held at Chinese universities to encourage PG students to present their research to teachers, students and the general public. For example, regular open lectures are held in PG Students Lectures of Beijing Forestry University, and the theme of the 15th open lecture is “Swimming in academia, traveling around the world.”
Outside academia
In China, PG students have opportunities for collaboration outside academia. For example, quite a number of post-doctoral research stations have been established by universities or cooperatively established by universities and enterprises. Many universities and enterprises have been actively exploring organic integration of enterprises, universities and research institutes in order to improve the creative ability for the enterprises. A number of PG students’ research results have been transformed into productivity in different enterprises.
More detailed information can be learned about on the English website of Postdoctors of Wuhan University.
Web Links
Information about academic conferences on the website of the School of International Studies at Zhejiang University
Student conferences at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature at Beijing Normal University
Departmental seminars at the Graduate School of Southwest University
Academic salons, conferences and workshops at the School of International Studies, Zhejiang University
Bonuses for papers published in international publications given by School of Economics at Wuhan University of Technology
Wanfang Data provides access to a wide range of database resources, serving as a gateway to Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, engineering, etc.
China Doctor Dissertation Full-text Database publishes official PhDs
Subsidies for the publication of PhDs from the Graduate School of Wuhan University
The Postdoctoral Fellows Association of Zhejiang University encourages PhD students to present their research outside academia
Open lectures are held in PG Students Lectures of Beijing Forestry University
Collaborations outside academia by Postdoctors of Wuhan University