New international publishing platform

Elsevier – the global publisher of scientific, technical and medical journals – has joined with the China Science Publishing & Media company to set up an international publishing platform for English-language journals.

Elsevier CEO Ron Mobed said the new platform would bring “the expanding wealth of research originating from China to the world”.

The announcement comes at a time when China is emerging as a major contributor to the international scientific community and is the second most prolific publisher of research articles after the United States and ahead of Britain.

“The joint venture puts Elsevier at the centre of services to burgeoning Chinese research and development,” Mobed said. “China is committing major resources in R&D and is in line to surpass the UK and US to become the world’s largest investor.

“This joint venture forges a partnership enabling the creation of a publishing platform that will make the results of that investment more accessible for global researchers.”

Mobed accompanied British Prime Minister David Cameron as a member of a trade delegation on a recent trip to China. Cameron said he was delighted that Elsevier had joined the largest British business delegation to go to China this century.

“This government's priority is to secure the economic recovery and we are determined to do all we can to help British companies to succeed in the global race,” Cameron said.

“I am firmly committed to playing my part which is why I have taken more than 130 business delegates to China, including Elsevier. My aim is to open the door for them in this fast-growing market, creating opportunities for them to expand their business."

Elsevier’s partnership with China’s largest science, technology and medical publisher began in 2007 as a joint venture for books serviced through a joint entity, KeAi Communications.

To provide publishing support for the rapid growth of China’s academic research output, the company is expanding KeAi’s offering to include publishing services for English-language journals and scientific evaluation of China-based journals.