Recently, the China Research Center for Scientometric Evaluation released its landmark research report, the "World Academic Journal Citation Impact Index (WAJCI) Annual Report." Meanwhile, *Statistical & Decision* magazine has joined the ranks of "World's Top-Q2 Journals in International Influence," ranking 58th out of 125 globally within its discipline according to the WAJCI.
The "Annual Report" draws on nearly five years of practical research evaluating the international influence of journals worldwide. It breaks away from traditional bibliometric assumptions rooted in the conventional understanding of how literature spreads and circulates, instead grounding its approach in a deeper comprehension of the fundamental principles governing the dissemination and diffusion of innovative knowledge. Building on this new framework, the report introduces a fresh set of bibliometric hypotheses tailored specifically for assessing the scholarly impact of academic journals. As a result, it develops a more scientifically sound and logically structured system of statistical indicators, along with a comprehensive and objective citation-based source framework that accurately reflects the academic influence of journals. From this, the report has generated statistically comparable data—known as the "World Academic Journal Citation Index (WAJCI)—which has been endorsed by a review panel composed of leading experts from China’s academic community, as well as professionals in academic journals and library & information science fields.
The "Annual Report" has released the World Academic Journal Citation Index (WAJCI), an academic impact metric, for a total of 13,063 scholarly journals that have wide global reach, significant influence, and strong academic standing. Among these, 11,655 are international journals published overseas (including 8,954 SCI journals and 4,691 SSCI journals), while the remaining 1,616 are Chinese-language academic journals—both in Chinese and English—published in mainland China (journals from mainland China with CN numbers). Notably, 1,428 of these outstanding Chinese journals were selected based on their "World Academic Journal Citation Index" (WAJCI) scores, calculated from an analysis of over 5,900 academic journals in China, while the rest are journals already included in the JCR reports.
The journal classification in the Annual Report covers 240 subject areas, including 177 subject categories under Natural Sciences and Engineering Technologies, and 63 categories under Philosophy, Humanities, and Social Sciences. After calculating the "World Academic Journal Impact Index (WAJCI)" for each discipline and ranking journals in descending order of their WAJCI scores, journals within the same discipline are divided into four tiers based on their quantity. Specifically, journals in the Q1 tier (top 25%) are designated as "World Academic Impact Q1 Journals" (referred to as "WAJCI-Q1 Journals"), while those in the Q2 tier (25%–50%) are classified as "World Academic Impact Q2 Journals" (referred to as "WAJCI-Q2 Journals"). Among the WAJCI-Q1 journals, Chinese science and technology journals account for 80 titles, and Chinese social science journals make up 47 titles. In the WAJCI-Q2 category, Chinese science and technology journals number 197, while Chinese social science journals comprise 118 titles.
