The 6th Forum for World STM Journals, co-organized by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and People's Government of Shaanxi Province, opened in Xi'an on June 19.

Themed "Jointly Building an Open and Innovative Community", the forum focused on STM journal development within the context of open science, inviting academic institutions, publishing organizations, and more from at home and abroad to discuss open science, publishing model transformations, big data and AI, and branding of STM journal.

At the opening ceremony, He Junke, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of CAST, emphasized the importance of open science in knowledge dissemination and scientific discovery in a video speech. He called for consensus-building in collaboration to advance open science development, creating a more open and innovative community.

In another video speech, Chang Jin, Vice-President of CAS, stressed CAS's status as an important STM journal publisher with the most published papers in China; and CAS planned to work with all sectors to promote open science.

Dai Binbin, Vice-Governor of the Shaanxi Government, attended the ceremony. His speech enunciated Shannxi's willingness to invest its rich cultural and scientific resources in more collaborations with the global community.

Zhang Guihua, Member of the Party Group and Secretary of the Secretariat of CAST, presided over the opening ceremony.

Guests from at home and overseas attended the forum, including CAS Academicians Yang Wei, Xu Zongben, and He Manchao; CAE Academicians Tian Wei, Zhang Pingxiang, and Jiang Jiandong; President of Xi'an Jiaotong University Wang Shuguo, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee Xiang Botao, CEO of the STM Association Caroline Sutton, Publishing Director of the Cambridge University Press STM Journals Caroline Black, Publisher of the Science Family of Journals Bill Moran, Global Senior Vice-President of Elsevier Peter Harrison, and Global Senior Vice-President of John Wiley & Sons Inc. Philip Kisray.

Chairman of China Editology Society of Science Periodicals, Academician Tian Wei, along with Secretary of Party Committee and President of Northwest Institute for Non-ferrous Metal Research, Academician Zhang Pingxiang, co-hosted the Keynote Report session. Yang Wei, Peter Harrison, Bill Moran, Xu Zongben, Xiang Botao, and Philip Kisray shared cases on the global trends of open science, technology and model innovation in publishing, open access, and structural construction of academic resources.

Bill Moran, in his interview, highlighted the importance of creating open data platforms and repositories in China's next stage of STM journal development, which needs brand- and trust-building to elevate to the global level. He complimented the forum for its focus on sustainability, equality, and inclusion while looking forward to a future where the community can have interactive dialogues.

In an interview with Peter Harrison, he explained Elsevier's AI and new technologies powered Journal Finder and other tools for content and publication analytics to assist scholarly publishing, overseen by Elsevier's principles for responsible use of AI. He felt AI can provide researchers with new insights, increase efficiency in publication workflow, and improve overall knowledge dissemination globally.

In the Summit Dialogue session, Ms. Caroline Sutton, Ms. Caroline Black, Academician He Manchao, and Chief Editor Peng Bin shared their views on the impact of open science, open access, and fair access, predatory journals and research integrity issues, and the policy system construction for open science. Chief Editor of Advanced Photonics, Professor Yuan Xiaocong, moderated the session.

The opening ceremony awarded the 2022 Outstanding Editor Certificate of China STM Journals Excellence Action Plan. The SciEngine 3.0 platform built by China Science Publishing & Media Group Ltd. and the full-text database of Chinese Medical Journals built by the Chinese Medical Association Publishing House were released. The exhibition on Benchmarking World-Class and Pursuing Excellence: Chinese STM Journals in Advancing was also held to showcase the latest progress in China's effort to create first-tier STM journals.

The forum also included four sub-forums on The Growth Tao of World-Class STM Journals, Building Basic Conditions for Open Science, Diversification of Editorial Roles and Cultivation of Young Talents, and Application of AI in Publishing. An academic salon on High-Quality Development of STM Journals in the Five North-western Provinces was also held. They gave in-depth exchanges on trending issues in the industry, such as high-quality assurance, open science, editorial talent training, and AI application.

The forum was supported by the China Periodicals Association and 13 other domestic organizations, as well as the STM Association and nine other international institutions. Representatives from domestic and international STM journal publishers, along with officials from the Publicity Department, Ministry of Education, CAS, and more involved in the Excellence Action Plan, attended the forum, with over 500 delegates in total.