High-quality development is a new concept proposed in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and it is a state of connotative development. The high-quality development of scientific research refers to the development state of scientific research that can promote scientific and technological progress, support high-quality social and economic development, and enhance the basic social structure and the public’s sense of accomplishment. The academic discourse system is the “superstructure” in the field of scientific and technological innovation, and an academic discourse system that conforms to the national conditions and characteristics is an important guarantee for the realization of high-quality scientific research.

Weak Links in China’s Academic Discourse System

“The academic discourse system is mainly composed of discourse subjects, discourse tools, discourse rules, and discourse systems. It is a discourse platform that helps the academic community to carry out academic activities and realize discourse functions” (SHENG Zhaohan, 2019). Modern science originated from the West, and gradually formed an international academic discourse system that is more suited to the UK and the United States’ acquisition of knowledge resources. Due to historical reasons, China’s academic discourse system is relatively lagging and has now become a restrictive factor for the high-quality development of scientific research in this country.

(1) Excessive Westernization of the domestic academic discourse system. The original intention of the Chinese academic community to participate in the international academic discourse system is to enhance China’s scientific and technological competitiveness through international academic exchanges, thereby supporting its social and economic development. However, China’s academic circles have shown an undesirable tendency towards excessive Westernization of academic discourse systems such as “SCI First”. In the evaluation of various scientific research talents, scientific research projects, and scientific research institutions, there is an inclination towards scientific research institutions and personnel that are good at publishing SCI/SSCI and other English journal articles. The phenomenon has caused unequal academic development opportunities for researchers and scientific research institutions engaged in different types of research and different disciplines, undermined the diversity of domestic academic ecology, and is not conducive to satisfying the needs of different national social and economic development for original basic research results, applied basic research results, and applied research results. Such a phenomenon has directly led to the insufficient support of China’s science and technology for social and economic development.

(2) The Chinese academic circle is holding an indifferent attitude toward academic discourse subject’s autonomy. In the early stage of reform and opening up, there was a big gap in scientific and technological strength between China and developed countries such as the United States and Britain. Integration into the international academic discourse system led by the United States and Britain will help gradually accumulate scientific and technological strength; after more than 40 years of reform, China has not only completed the accumulation of basic scientific and technological knowledge and resources, it has also gained a certain degree of discourse power in many areas in the international academic discourse system, but China’s academic circles appear to stay in a passive situation that focuses on participation and is relatively indifferent to the subject’s autonomy. Due to the lack of self-consciousness of the subject of academic discourse in China, there is a general lack of discourse rules and systems design centered on China’s needs, which in turn led to the status quo of blindly following “international hot spots” and “international frontiers”, resulting in a deviation of allocation of scientific research resources from the needs of national conditions. It has restricted the steady improvement of China’s technological competitiveness.

(3) English as the preferred language for academic communication. In the process of China’s integration into the international academic discourse system, misled by various domestic and foreign Westernized academic rankings, many domestic basic-level scientific research units and researchers prefer publishing scientific research results in English journals such as SCI/SSCI/EI. Citizens of English-speaking countries become the preferential beneficiary of the latest intellectual achievements of basic-level scientific research units and scientific researchers, while the Chinese people would meet more difficulty to obtain the latest domestic scientific research results. It has also reduced the sense of accomplishment of China’s basic-level organizations and the public.

Speed up the Construction of an Academic Discourse System
with Chinese Characteristics

To meet the high-quality development needs of China’s scientific research and eliminate the adverse effects of the lagging in the construction of China’s academic discourse system, here are three suggestions.

(1) Strengthen the top-level design of the academic discourse system with Chinese characteristics. It would be an important symbol of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the academic field if the Chinese academic characteristic discourse system dominates the world. To achieve this goal, it takes three steps. At this stage, we can adopt the dual-regulation thinking of both participating in the international academic discourse system and building an academic discourse system with Chinese characteristics. First, the core task of the construction of China’s academic discourse system is to orderly reduce the excessive Westernization of the domestic academic discourse system through policy guidance (such as two ministries jointly clean up the issue of “SCI First”), building the basic framework of the academic discourse system with Chinese characteristics and continue to enrich the content, thus to support the real needs of the country’s high-quality social and economic development; the second is to uphold the principle of selective participation in the international academic discourse system, and we only take part in the activities that serve China’s high-quality social and economic development. In the second stage, after the initial formation of the academic discourse system with Chinese characteristics, we need to foster greater influence of this discourse system in overseas Chinese communities, the Belt and Road countries, and the wider global community while enriching its connotation. In the third stage, when China’s comprehensive strength and scientific and technological strength are in a leading position in the world, the academic discourse system with Chinese characteristics will naturally lead the world.

(2) Speed up the design of China’s autonomous academic discourse rules system. Insist on cultural confidence, strengthen policy guidance and incentivize by honor, enhance the patriotism of our country’s grass-roots units and scientific researchers, and self-awareness when participating in international academic exchanges and cooperation. Focus on creating independent academic discourse rules and systems, improving the academic discourse system with national characteristics, eliminating the negative effects of Chinese academic discourse content in the current international academic discourse system, and guiding the transformation of China’s academic discourse content from following “international hotspots” and “international frontiers” to serving China’s scientific and technological progress, so as to help enhance China’s technological competitiveness.

(3) Strengthen the construction of the dissemination carrier of Chinese scientific and technological achievements. Promote the reform of the evaluation system of China’s academic achievement exchange and dissemination carriers (academic journals, online article publishing platforms, academic achievement retrieval platforms, etc.), strengthen the construction of the peer review system for academic achievements in China, and create a fair competitive environment for the exchange and dissemination of academic achievements in China. Taking the opportunity of creating domestic high-quality academic journals, form a high-quality academic achievement exchange and dissemination carrier represented by high-quality academic journals printed in Chinese, and enhance its attractiveness to China’s grass-roots scientific research institutions and researchers and even foreign scholars, so as to promote the timeliness and sense of accomplishment for the grass-root researchers as well as the public to obtain the latest scientific research results in China and the world.