Ms Li Zhang is the Director of Journal Publishing Center at Tsinghua University Press (TUP). In this interview, we hear about TUP’s experiences with Journal Home and how the partnership has attracted more readers and engagement for their journals.

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TUP began working with ResearchGate in 2024 – the first agreement of its kind with a Chinese publisher. What did TUP hope to achieve from the partnership?

As an integral part of Tsinghua University, China's most prestigious university, Tsinghua University Press (TUP) has built a reputation since 1980 as a leading comprehensive publisher dedicated to advancing and disseminating knowledge. When we embarked on our pioneering Journal Home partnership with ResearchGate in 2024, we had a clear strategic objective: to leverage this powerful professional network to significantly amplify the international reach and impact of our cutting-edge research outputs. We hoped to break down geographical barriers and ensure that the exceptional work published in our journals, particularly from fast-evolving fields like AI, nano research, and advanced materials, would gain greater visibility and engagement within the global research community of over 25 million scientists. This initiative was a natural extension of our commitment to supporting authors and accelerating scientific progress worldwide.

When we embarked on our pioneering Journal Home partnership with ResearchGate in 2024, we had a clear strategic objective: to leverage this powerful professional network to significantly amplify the international reach and impact of our cutting-edge research outputs.

How does Journal Home support TUP’s ambitions in advancing global academic innovation?

Journal Home directly supports TUP's core ambition of advancing global academic innovation by seamlessly integrating our prestigious journal portfolio into the daily workflow of the international research community. This partnership complements our own innovative efforts, such as the development of SciOpen, our digital publishing platform that offers end-to-end services for STM journals. Journal Home acts as a dynamic extension of our publishing ecosystem. By creating dedicated, highly visible profiles for our journals within ResearchGate, it provides a comprehensive showcase for our publications' aims, scope, and editorial board. This not only drives discovery of our content, but also fosters the cross-disciplinary dialogue essential for innovation. It embeds TUP's rigorous scholarly content directly into the networks where collaboration happens, ensuring that research from our platforms sparks new ideas and accelerates scientific breakthroughs on a global scale.

Journal Home acts as a dynamic extension of our publishing ecosystem... It embeds TUP's rigorous scholarly content directly into the networks where collaboration happens, ensuring that research from our platforms sparks new ideas and accelerates scientific breakthroughs on a global scale.

What impact has the Journal Home partnership had on TUP’s reach and visibility globally?

Our Journal Home partnership has had a transformative impact on amplifying TUP's global reach and solidifying our reputation as a leading international publisher. The initial success with our first five journals demonstrated the platform's power, giving us the confidence to more than double our participation in the 2025 expansion to 13 titles. This strategic move has significantly boosted the visibility of our entire portfolio. The quantitative results speak volumes: in 2025, we syndicated over 7,500 articles, swiftly attracted 38,000 new readers, generated 174,000 page views, and led to 76,000 downloads. These figures represent a substantial expansion of our international audience beyond traditional channels. Qualitatively, the partnership has elevated the profile of TUP's brands, such as Nano Research and Tsinghua Science and Technology, within key global research communities.

Our Journal Home partnership has had a transformative impact on amplifying TUP's global reach and solidifying our reputation as a leading international publisher…in 2025, we syndicated over 7,500 articles, swiftly attracted 38,000 new readers, generated 174,000 page views, and led to 76,000 downloads. These figures represent a substantial expansion of our international audience beyond traditional channels.

What results has TUP seen from the partnership for its author community?

Our author community has been a primary beneficiary of the Journal Home partnership, reaping tangible rewards that enhance their academic impact and careers. The automatic integration of their published TUP articles into their ResearchGate profiles provides them with a seamless way to showcase their work to a vast international network. This has translated into significant, measurable outcomes: the content added through this partnership has already generated more than 1,200 influenced citations, a clear indicator that their research is being actively read, discussed, and built upon by peers worldwide.

…the content added through this partnership has already generated 1,200 influenced citations, a clear indicator that their research is being actively read, discussed, and built upon by peers worldwide.

For authors publishing in our diverse range of journals, this level of exposure is invaluable. It provides them with robust data on their readership and impact, empowering them to demonstrate the reach of their contributions. Journal Home aligns perfectly with TUP's author-centric philosophy, providing our scholars with the tools they need to thrive in the competitive global academic landscape.

Journal Home perfectly with TUP's author-centric philosophy, providing our scholars with the tools they need to thrive in the competitive global academic landscape.

How else has TUP benefited from Journal Home so far?

Beyond the direct metrics of readership and citations, TUP has gained significant strategic benefits from the Journal Home collaboration. The in-depth analytics provided offer us unparalleled insights into the global engagement with our journals. This data on reader demographics and content performance is invaluable for our editorial strategy, helping us understand emerging trends and better serve our academic communities.

TUP has gained significant strategic benefits from the Journal Home collaboration. The in-depth analytics provided offer us unparalleled insights into the global engagement with our journals.

Furthermore, Journal Home also enhances TUP’s brand visibility, which strengthens our ability to attract high-quality submissions from leading international researchers. It reinforces TUP's position as an innovative, globally-minded publisher that invests in advanced publishing platforms like SciOpen and strategic partnerships to maximise the impact of the research we publish. This, in turn, helps us attract and retain top-tier editors and editorial board members, creating a virtuous cycle that elevates the quality and prestige of our entire journal portfolio.

This latest expansion sees the first Chinese-language journal launch on Journal Home. What motivated this decision, and what impact does TUP hope to achieve?

The decision to include our first Chinese-language journal in this expansion is a strategic one that reflects the comprehensive nature of TUP's publishing mission. While we mainly publish international English-language journals, we are also deeply committed to serving and elevating the rich scholarly discourse happening within China. We hope to showcase the depth and quality of Chinese-language scholarship to a global audience of subject specialists, scientists, and those interested in unique perspectives from Chinese academia. This move is a testament to our commitment to a truly inclusive and comprehensive knowledge exchange, ensuring that valuable research published in Chinese also finds its place on the world stage, further enriching global scholarship.

The decision to include our first Chinese-language journal in this expansion is a strategic one that reflects the comprehensive nature of TUP's publishing mission.

What would your advice be for others considering a collaboration through Journal Home?

For other publishers considering a collaboration through Journal Home with ResearchGate, our advice, based on TUP's highly successful experience, is to view it as a strategic partnership that aligns with and amplifies your core publishing mission. For a prestigious publisher like TUP, which manages a large portfolio of journals including many high-impact titles, Journal Home has proven to be an effective force multiplier. Our advice is to enter the partnership with clear goals – whether for brand building, author support, or international expansion—and to fully utilise the rich analytics provided to inform your broader strategy. The true value lies in embedding your journals into the active research workflows of millions of scientists. For any publisher serious about increasing the global impact and visibility of their research in a meaningful and measurable way, a Journal Home partnership is a highly recommended strategic investment.

For a prestigious publisher like TUP, which manages a large portfolio of journals including many high-impact titles, Journal Home has proven to be an effective force multiplier.

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To find out more about Journal Home, visit: https://www.researchgate.net/journal-home

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