Journal internationalization of non-English-speaking countries: Indicator framework design and influencing factor analysis

Abstract

English is widely recognized as the predominant lingua franca in the global scientific community, in such context many non-English-speaking countries have started to establish their own English-language scientific journals, so as to enhance academic influence and promote international collaboration. Despite the inherent nature of English-language scientific journals in non-English-speaking countries is facilitating transnational knowledge exchange, current mainstream evaluation metrics (such as Journal Impact Factor) fail to assess this characteristic objectively. To fill this gap, our study analyzed 3,077 English-language journals from 17 non-English-speaking countries, using data from the Journal Citation Report (JCR) and InCites to evaluate journal internationalization degree (JID) across three levels: journal-level (Level 1), paper-level (Level 2), and citation-level (Level 3). Results show that JID varies across countries and does not necessarily exhibit consistency at different levels. At country level, correlation analyses revealed that Human Development Index (HDI) positively relates to all levels of JID, while English Proficiency Index (EPI) only affects the proportion of non-domestic papers. At the journal level, we examine the effects of open access (OA), article processing charges (APC), and Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI) on JID. The findings show that while OA modestly enhances international visibility, higher APCs negatively impact international submissions. Among these factors, CNCI emerges as the strongest driver of global reach, showing a strong correlation with both international submissions and citations. Potentially, our research can provide insights for journals to adjust their development strategies and advance their internationalization process.