{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T18:54:23Z","timestamp":1776106463570,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776038400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Taking the digital publishing industry as its research object and employs the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to systematically examine the causal relationships among the Instrument Mix, regional conditions, and industrial performance, drawing on policy texts and development data from 16 major Chinese provinces. The findings indicate that neither a single Policy instrument nor an isolated regional condition is sufficient to sustain high-quality development; rather, industry success depends on specific configurations of multiple interacting conditions. Content application and scenario promotion, together with industry chain shaping and cluster development, form the core elements of multiple high-performance pathways. In contrast, fiscal and financial instruments play a relatively peripheral role, confirming both synergistic and substitutive relationships among Policy instruments. Further path analysis reveals three distinct realization logic in the digital publishing industry: (1) a regional environment\u2013driven model relying on economic and cultural endowments; (2) a policy\u2013economy dual-drive model characterized by joint government\u2013market action; and (3) a systemic synergy model where multiple factors interact comprehensively. In contrast, non-high-performing configurations demonstrate causal asymmetry, indicating that industrial underperformance is not a simple inversion of success but rather the result of compensatory interactions among regional conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0346245","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T17:29:23Z","timestamp":1776101363000},"page":"e0346245","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Research on instrument mix and regional suitability of digital publishing industrial policies: An empirical exploration based on qualitative comparative analysis of fuzzy set"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-7377-7490","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sirui","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Johnny Fat Iam","family":"Lam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0346245.ref001","first-page":"29","article-title":"Annual Report on China\u2019s Digital Publishing Industry, 2023-2024 (Abstract)","author":"China Digital Publishing Industry Annual Report Team","year":"2024","journal-title":"Publishing Research"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref002","first-page":"139","article-title":"Research on the effect of fiscal and tax policies and strategies on the digital development of the publishing industry","author":"S Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Friends of Accounting"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref003","first-page":"48","article-title":"Research on the supply of fiscal and tax policy instruments for the development of publishing industry in the post epidemic era","author":"D Hao","year":"2022","journal-title":"Science-Technology & Publication"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref004","first-page":"72","article-title":"Research on tax policy in response to the digital transformation of publishing","author":"L Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"Fiscal Science"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref005","first-page":"10","article-title":"The evolutionary characteristics of China\u2019s digital publishing industry policies: A quantitative study based on the policy texts from 2006 to 2023","volume":"3","author":"Q Sun","year":"2025","journal-title":"China Digital Publishing"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref006","first-page":"75","article-title":"An analysis of tax policies to promote the high-quality development of digital publishing industry","author":"S Huang","year":"2025","journal-title":"China Taxation"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0346245.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104902","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2023.104902","article-title":"Characterising innovation policy mixes in innovation systems","volume":"53","author":"D Howoldt","year":"2024","journal-title":"Research Policy"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref008","first-page":"31","article-title":"Research on China\u2019s digital publishing policy tool selection system and its optimisation strategy","author":"Y Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Science-Technology & Publication"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref009","first-page":"32","article-title":"On status quo, dilemma and optimization path of the unified policy of social effect and economic benefits for publishers","author":"Y Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Publishing Research"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref010","article-title":"First-mover or last-mover: how does the timing of digital transformation affect firm performance?","author":"Y Li","year":"2025","journal-title":"Modern Economic Science"},{"key":"pone.0346245.ref011","article-title":"Can the VAT rate simplification policy alleviate the resource mismatch of enterprises - 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