Open for impact: What China’s OA growth shows about the future of global research

Author: Silvia He

Recent years have seen rapid rise in the number and reach of gold open access (OA) articles from China. A new white paper explores how gold OA publishing is increasing the visibility and reach of China’s research globally, and how this growth benefits China and its international partners, particularly in the Global South.

Insights from the white paper demonstrate what institutions and libraries should consider for their OA strategies to maximise growth, visibility, and reach for their researchers’ work. In this first blog of a two-part series, we explore how gold OA is reshaping the global research exchange, and where collaboration with the Global South is driving shared value. 

Research is increasingly published openly, making it more accessible worldwide and contributing to wider global usage and citation. The Springer Nature white paper 'Open for impact: China’s gold open access boosting global innovation and supporting the Global South’ focuses on how China’s rapid expansion in gold OA publishing is supporting broader visibility, engagement, and collaboration. It provides Chinese and global institutional decision-makers with a strategic view of how OA can be leveraged to reshape future research. 

The OA landscape in China: Growing uptake and shifting attitudes

Over the past five years, the volume of gold OA articles has increased significantly, reflecting a broader shift towards immediate access across the global research landscape. China’s OA output is a particularly strong example of this trend. Its gold OA output grew from 154,000 articles in 2020 to 295,000 in 2024, reflecting a strong annual growth rate of 18%, well above the global average of 7%.  

This growth is accompanied by shifting researcher attitudes. A 2024 Springer Nature survey of over 1,500 researchers in China found that 55% were feeling more positive about OA than two years earlier, indicating that researchers are increasingly valuing the visibility and discoverability that open publishing can offer. 

How China’s OA research is used and cited globally

The average number of citations for China’s gold OA publications is rising significantly alongside the growth in OA output. Two‑year citations (citations received within two years of publication) rose from 1.8 million in 2020 to 2.8 million in 2022, a 55% increase.  

For institutions, citation performance is an important indicator of how widely research is being used and referenced in the global community. Because some research assessment and global ranking methodologies use citation-based indicators, growing citation levels can also help institutions evidence the reach and influence of their research. 

Rising citation levels of OA publications signal that increased accessibility is influencing the visibility and use of research globally. When we look at which countries are citing China’s OA articles, we find that the impact of these articles is indeed global.  

The white paper shows that nearly 40% of citations to China’s 2022 gold OA articles come from publications without authors in China. 19% of the citations come from articles with an author in another country in Asia, while 18% have an author in Europe and 11% have an author in North America. This spread of citations across regions highlights the global reach of China’s OA research, showing that it is being used and referenced well beyond its country of origin. 

Measuring reach beyond academia 

Downloads and citations in formal academic publications are not the only measures of research impact today. Institutions can also use alternative metrics to understand how research is being discussed and shared beyond academic literature. Altmetric data provide this additional perspective, tracking attention from sources such as traditional media, patents, policy documents, social media, and other online platforms. 

For institutions, this kind of data can complement citation and download figures by showing where research is attracting attention beyond academic publishing. In the case of China’s gold OA articles, the white paper shows strong levels of Altmetric attention, while also noting the limits of the metric: Chinese social media platforms are not tracked, and policy and news mentions are dominated by international and English-language sources.  

Against that backdrop, the figures are notable. China’s gold OA articles published in 2022 reached an Altmetric Score of 703,000, increasing by 26% compared to 2020. 2024 articles have already reached 510,000, close to the 558,000 score for 2020 articles despite having had less time to accumulate attention.

Disseminating openly accessible knowledge in the Global South

Broadening access to knowledge across the Global South is part of China’s strategic goal to support global development. Gold OA articles from China published in 2022 generated 1.53 million citations from publications outside China, including 742,000 from the Global South, representing 19% of the total citations. This suggests that researchers in the Global South are not only accessing China’s OA research, but also actively using and building on it in their own research.  

Gold OA is a key impetus behind increased impact and wide dissemination in the Global South. Between 2020 and 2022, the OA articles China published in Springer Nature hybrid journals have almost twice the number of citations per article as non-OA articles: 5.2 Global South citations per OA article in comparison to 2.7 for non-OA articles. The OA articles also have over 4.8 times more downloads per article in the Global South. This demonstrates how open access can substantially increase the reach and impact of research. 

What institutions can learn from China’s OA growth

As these insights show, gold OA can expand the reach of research by making it easier to discover, access, cite, and build upon across borders. China’s rapid growth in OA highlights how increased accessibility can strengthen global research exchange, support wider engagement, and make research more visible internationally, particularly in relation to partners in the Global South. 

For institutions and libraries, these findings underline the importance of aligning publishing strategies with goals around visibility, impact, and international collaboration. They also point to the value of sustained support for gold OA, including dedicated funding, researcher engagement, and advocacy around the benefits of publishing openly. 

Some practical steps institutions can take to position their researchers within a more connected and globally engaged research ecosystem include raising awareness of the benefits of OA among their researchers, supporting gold OA publications, and recognising open outputs and international reach within research assessment and promotion criteria. Institutions can also strengthen the visibility of their research by highlighting high-impact OA collaborations, particularly in areas connected to global challenges and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The white paper offers a deeper look at China’s OA growth, global citation patterns, Altmetric attention, and engagement with the Global South. It also explores how impact is shaped not only by openness, but by publishing choices, including where and what institutions publish, and more. It provides useful context and insights for institutions looking to strengthen the visibility, use, and global relevance of their research.

Read the white paper: Open for impact: China’s gold open access boosting global innovation and supporting the Global South.

Related contents:

• How perceptions of open access in China are changing 
• To publish OA, what institutional support do Chinese researchers need most? 
• OA agreements advance OA publishing in Asia and Oceania

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