PEDAGOGICAL DOCTORAL STUDENTS IN CHINA UNDER PRESSURE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CSSCI JOURNALS

Abstract

The prerequisite for doctoral students in Chinese universities to obtain their degrees was to publish a certain number of papers in designated journals, which is the main pressure on doctoral students in China. This study focused on the publication pressure of doctoral students in pedagogy in China under the policy of breaking the ‘five only’, which aims to diversify the evaluation criteria for academic quality and reduce the reliance on paper publications. The study analyzed the data of 36 pedagogical CSSCI journals from 2016 to 2020, and examined the trends and patterns of publishing pedagogy articles in these journals. The study also explored the factors that influence the publication pressure of doctoral students in pedagogy, such as the admission system, the expansion of doctoral enrollment, and the recruitment system for young teachers. The results show that Chinese pedagogy CSSCI journals are declining in number and are dominated by well-known scholars and institutions. Doctoral students in pedagogy face a more severe academic situation than university teachers, as they have to publish papers to graduate and compete for limited journal space. They also face the pressure of publication under the application-appraisal system and the system of “promote or leave”. The study suggests that colleges and universities need to break through the quantitative evaluation system of doctoral students’ academic achievements and pay more attention to the training system and academic culture that promote their physical and mental health and academic development. Keywords: breaking the ‘five only’, CSSCI journals, data statistics, pedagogical doctoral students in China, publication pressure