The first meeting of the fourth Editorial Board of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature (hereinafter the Journal) was held at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences on the morning of May 30, 2016, and over 20 Editorial Board members from around the country attended the event.

Professor Hu Zhiqiang, Chief Editor of the Journal, presided over the meeting. He expressed sincere thanks to the participating Editorial Board members and members who gave support and care to the meeting through various channels. Then, Professor Su Gang, Vice President of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, read the decision on approving the establishment of the fourth Editorial Board of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature on behalf of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Mr. Zhu Qingshi is Chairman of the new Editorial Board, Mr. Fan Dainian Honorary Chief Editor, Professor Liu Dachun and Professor Hu Zhiqiang Vice Chairman. The Editorial Board has 51 members and the term of office is three years. Su Gang made an impromptu speech passionately. He said, it is closely related to the great support of all previous Editorial Board member and experts from brother units around the country that the Journal could become an influential journal in the dialectics of nature circles of China. He hoped that, under the leadership of Mr. Zhu Qingshi, the new Editorial Board could carry forward fine traditions of the past, and taking the opportunity of the symposium on philosophy and social sciences presided over by General Secretary Xi Jinping, unite experts in all fields, and invite scientists to cooperate with philosophers, to make the academic platform of the Journal even better.

Mr. Fan Dainian, former Director of the Editorial Board, is a major founder of the Journal. Since he assumed the office of Executive Deputy Chief Editor in the early 1980s, he has devoted himself to the Journal and successively served as Executive Deputy Chief Editor and Chief Editor. Even after he retired, he still serves as Director of the first, second and third Editorial Board. Mr. Fan made outstanding contribution to the growth of the Journal. He said, “I was planning to serve as Director of the Editorial Board for one term only, but for various reasons, I served for another term in 2013. The new Editorial Board with Academician Zhu Qingshi as the Director is much stronger. I hope the Journal could develop better under leadership of the new Editorial Board.”

Then, Academician Zhu Qingshi, the new Director of the Editorial Board, gave a speech. He recalled that he had become a “fan” of the Journal in the 1960s because he studied quantum mechanics at college. He said, “At that time, we were required to understand how to use quantum mechanics but not required to understand the underlying philosophy. I have been interested in such philosophical questions over the years and been trying to figure them out.” He said, the Journal was named the Journal of Study on Dialectics of Nature at that time and published many articles on philosophical basis of relativity, which aroused the interest of a lot of college students in the philosophy of science. “I was one of them. So I have deep feelings for the Journal. As a predecessor, Mr. Fan did outstanding work at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. We had heard his name often when we were young. Now, the responsibility to make the Journal even better falls on the shoulder of young scholars and experts. I hope we could work together to do it well.”

During the tea break, the participants took group photos. Then, Professor Wang Daming, Deputy Chief Editor, presided over the meeting. Professor Hu Zhiqiang was the first to speak. He reported on the work of the Journal to the Editorial Board members. He said, under the leadership of Mr. Fan, the Journal’s work was smooth overall during the term of the last Editorial Board, receiving about 800 contributions and publishing 120 with an acceptance rate of 15%. The Journal also did some reforms. First, expansion. With more financial support from colleges, the Journal adds one sheet in each issue, so the number of pages reaches 160 and four more articles can be published, which eases the slow publication situation to some extent. Second, revamp. According to information gathered from a layout survey, the Journal modifies its layout and changes main articles from full-column to double-column, which increases readability. Third, system of features. Every issue has a feature, and every feature includes 3-5 articles on a particular academic issue. The system of features is well received by authors and readers. Fourth, internationalization. A small step has been made in this aspect, but in the future, the source of authors will expand to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Europe and America. Basically, every issue will publish one or two articles by foreign authors, even including international masters in philosophy of science and technology like Philip Kitcher and J.C. Pitt. Fifth, editor team construction and website construction. The Journal has built its independent server, finished revamp of the Chinese version of its website, and is preparing the English version. As to editor team construction, four editors join the existing editors. Now the Editorial Office has 10 staff, including nine editors. Regarding review process, the Journal strengthens external review to ensure review quality. Generally speaking, the Journal maintains a good image in the mind of the academic circles and scholars, but undoubtedly, it still faces some problems. At the end of April 2016, the Editorial Office held a young authors symposium at Renmin University of China. The symposium focused on the problems of long publication cycle and review cycle. In light of views from all sides, the Editorial Board will try to adjust the review process and publication process, including publishing the electronic edition online first. Besides, compared with domestic counterparts, the Journal’s cited rate is relatively low, which is caused by various reasons. The Editorial Office reiterated that it would try to increase the cited rate on the premise of maintaining the Journal’s academic style and taste. At last, Chief Editor Hu Zhiqiang welcomed suggestions and opinions from the Editorial Board members on the Editorial Office’s work.

Professor Deng Mingli from Hebei Normal University said, he’s glad to see Mr. Fan at every meeting. The sound development of the Journal is closely related to the devotion of Mr. Fan and the predecessors, the Editorial Board members and the staff. The key to a higher cited rate lies in marketing. The Journal shall build alliance with scientists and philosophers and in particular, attract the participation of renowned scientists interested in the philosophy of science. This way, the Journal can hear different voices of scientists and increase its cited rate.

Professor Wang Wei from Tsinghua University said, he usually contributes his favorite articles to the Journal. About the Journal’s construction, he suggested, the Editorial Board members could actively participate in every meeting of the Editorial Board, and the Journal shall promote younger members on the Editorial board and strengthen alliance with scientists and philosophers. Professor Wang Wei particularly introduced examples of foreign counterparts building alliances with scientists and philosophers.

Professor Wan Fubin from Guangxi University for Nationalities thought, although the Journal shouldn’t follow suit, it is essential to focus on the frontiers of philosophy of science, such as human-computer Go challenge and quantum entanglement. It is great for the Journal to hold a symposium on the system of features, but the form can be freer. Instead of formal papers, the Journal could invite some experts to freely discuss on a special subject. Professor Wan also agreed with the suggestion of a younger Editorial Board team. He suggested that the Journal shall pay more attention to the articles of young scholars in the history of science and technology so as to discover new authors and new subjects.

Regarding how to expand the Journal’s influence among young scholars and students, Professor Zhu Jing suggested that if conditions permit, the Journal could hold some academic meetings attended mostly by young scholars and students to help young scholars and readers grow up quickly. This will not only publicize the Journal but also expand its influence.

Professor Xiao Xianjing from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences held that, it is still a major problem as to how introduce frontier academic studies from abroad and combine with relevant research subjects in China. At present, the column Philosophy of Science and Technology mainly publishes articles on orthodox philosophy of science but articles on the philosophy of natural sciences are few. This needs to be strengthened.

Professor Li Bocong from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences offered two suggestions. First, the Journal shall always put quality in the first place and cited rate in the second place. Second, the Journal shall get a clear understanding of its problems and then think how to enhance its level and influence from all aspects. One reason for the decrease of the Journal’s influence among young people is that the Journal was a platform not only spreading knowledge but also inspiring thought. Negligence of either one would lead to adverse consequences. He hoped that the Journal could stick to its fine traditions in the future.

Professor Lin Juren from Shandong University gave two suggestions. He thought, the influence of the Journal hasn’t spread to certain fields of social sciences in China. Take sociology for instance. The participation of sociologists in the Journal is limited. Although the Journal is comprehensive, its dialogue with sociologists is insufficient. Therefore, the Journal shall combine specialization and comprehensiveness better and expand to the circles of social sciences.

Professor Cao Zhiping from Xiamen University offered two suggestions on improvement of the Journal. First, as a platform for scientific and humanistic communication, the Journal shall continue to follow philosophical issues in natural sciences, and consider combining “internationalization” with “localization in China”. Second, the Journal shall give more attention to young doctoral students. Even if it rejects a contribution from a doctoral student, it shall reply to the contributor in time. Regarding contributions that are close to the acceptance standards, the reviewers could make suggestions for revision to help young authors improve themselves. 

Professor Meng Jianwei from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences reported a problem. That is, the dialectics of nature is not so hot as it was in the 1980s and 1990s, and most members in the discipline group originally majored in liberal arts. This is a major factor that affects the development of the discipline and the Journal, and is worth noticing. Therefore, he suggested that the Journal shall organize and publish some articles that make philosophical discussions on frontier issues in natural sciences so as to exert material influence to the development of natural sciences, especially influence to the scientific undertaking in China. This will also enhance the Journal’s influence.

Professor Li Xiaocen from Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology held that, the comprehensive nature of the Journal prevents the flaw of some magazines that specialize in textual research on historical facts but neglect the development of scientific thinking. This is more conducive to the expansion of its influence and is a major advantage, so the Journal shall remain thoughtful and the cited rate will eventually rise as a result.

Professor Guo Shirong from Inner Mongolia Normal University agreed with Professor Li Xiaocen that comprehensiveness is a merit of the Journal. He also proposed two suggestions. First, as introduction to dialectics of nature changes from a required course to a non-required course, a lot of teachers will put more time in research, which creates difficulty and opportunity for the Journal. Difficulty means the increase of contributions will lead to greater workload for reviewers; opportunity means chances of having high-quality contributions will increase greatly. Second, the Journal shall use new media platforms more and consider publishing its articles on new media for ease of communication and reading, so it could become a way to enhance the Journal’s influence.

Regarding the contradiction between academic nature and popularity, Professor Sun Yongping from Peking University held that, the Journal shall position itself as a professional rather than popular magazine, lead the development of relevant specialties in China, and publish critical articles more, such as book reviews, which can be a review on new books published abroad or a review on translated books in China. It could also publish some feature articles in the form of dialogue. General speaking, critics and discussions among scholars are few. In this respect, there is a wide gap between us and foreign counterparts and a need for improvement.

Professor Zhu Zhifang from Wuhan University pointed out, the Journal could organize a forum for doctoral students every year during vacations so as to discover excellent articles and authors, give guidance and help to young scholars, and expand the Journal’s influence among young scholars.

Academician Zhu Qingshi added, as the number of journals increases greatly nowadays, it is hard indeed for a journal to be welcomed by all readers, so it must have its own emphases and innovative points to seize the core reader. For the Journal, the core readers shall be not only researchers on philosophy of science, history of science and technology and sociology of science but also scientists and young students in the circles of natural sciences and social sciences who are interested in philosophy of science, history of science and sociology of science. How to attract them is a long-term task for the Journal to develop well.

In the end, Professor Hu Zhiqiang made a concluding speech. He said, with great supports of the Editorial Board members, in particular Mr. Fan Dainian and Academician Zhu Qingshi, the meeting was held successfully as scheduled. The Editorial Office would like to extend their sincere thanks for that. The participating Editorial Board members proposed many constructive suggestions good for the Journal’s work and pointed out some shortcomings not realized before. The Editorial Office will take every suggestion and opinion seriously and constantly improve the Journal’s quality. He believes the Journal will become better and better with joint efforts of everyone.

(Chen Qiangqiang, Wang Daming)