{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T03:41:41Z","timestamp":1773373301146,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,2]],"date-time":"2024-12-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1733097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Chinese National Social Science Foundation","award":["23XYY005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23XYY005"]}]},{"name":"Chinese National Social Science Foundation","award":["11913323000002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11913323000002"]}]},{"name":"Chinese National Social Science Foundation","award":["230818204707180"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["230818204707180"]}]},{"name":"Chinese National Social Science Foundation","award":["2302Q-10"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2302Q-10"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Free Exploration and Independent Innovation Basic Research Fund","award":["23XYY005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23XYY005"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Free Exploration and Independent Innovation Basic Research Fund","award":["11913323000002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11913323000002"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Free Exploration and Independent Innovation Basic Research Fund","award":["230818204707180"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["230818204707180"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Free Exploration and Independent Innovation Basic Research Fund","award":["2302Q-10"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2302Q-10"]}]},{"name":"2023 First Batch Ministry of Education Industry-University-Research Collaboration Project","award":["23XYY005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23XYY005"]}]},{"name":"2023 First Batch Ministry of Education Industry-University-Research Collaboration Project","award":["11913323000002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11913323000002"]}]},{"name":"2023 First Batch Ministry of Education Industry-University-Research Collaboration Project","award":["230818204707180"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["230818204707180"]}]},{"name":"2023 First Batch Ministry of Education Industry-University-Research Collaboration Project","award":["2302Q-10"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2302Q-10"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research Project","award":["23XYY005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23XYY005"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research Project","award":["11913323000002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11913323000002"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research Project","award":["230818204707180"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["230818204707180"]}]},{"name":"2023 Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research Project","award":["2302Q-10"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2302Q-10"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Publications"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Tensions between policies and practices have long been studied. When the Breaking Five-Only Policy was issued in October 2020 in China, it was a cause for controversy and debate among scholars and educators. Take the publications-only or S\/SCI paper supremacy policy, for example; the proposed policy encourages scholars and educators to publish their papers in domestic journals instead of international or S\/SCI-indexed journals. However, scholars and educators have reported that it is even more challenging to publish in domestic journals for various reasons. We thus examined this dilemma by comparing journal metrics of 12 Chinese journals and 12 English ones in the same field. Specifically, we studied how academic publications had been measured in terms of statistics and parameters, including the title ranks, funds, and university ranks of the authors, typically in the Chinese context. We set up different hypotheses, analyzed the data, reported the quantitative findings, and tested the proposed hypotheses. Then, we discussed our results and argued that coercive and authoritarian accountability, quantity over quality, and ever-increased involution are major forces that drive the audit culture with regard to academic performance in the Chinese context. We concluded the paper with hidden tensions between the policy and reality and advocated for continued efforts for policy implementation and reform.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/publications12040044","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,3]],"date-time":"2024-12-03T04:04:04Z","timestamp":1733198644000},"page":"44","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["When Policy Meets Practice: Evaluating Breaking Five-Only Policy Through Academic Production in China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5888-6033","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yang","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Foreign Studies, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4786-8777","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaochen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Foreign Studies, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Moriarty, J. (2017). Writing to resist: Storying the self and audit culture in higher education. Surviving Sexism in Academia, Routledge.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315523217-26"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Shore, C., and Wright, S. (2003). Coercive accountability: The rise of audit culture in higher education. Audit Cultures, Routledge."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1111\/faam.12025","article-title":"Perverse audit culture and accountability of the modern public university","volume":"30","author":"Craig","year":"2014","journal-title":"Financ. Account. Manag."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1086\/681534","article-title":"Audit culture revisited: Rankings, ratings, and the reassembling of society","volume":"56","author":"Shore","year":"2015","journal-title":"Curr. Anthropol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.5539\/res.v12n1p22","article-title":"Challenges and drawbacks in the marketisation of higher education within neoliberalism","volume":"12","year":"2020","journal-title":"Rev. Eur. Stud."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1007\/s10734-017-0143-z","article-title":"Re-empowering academics in a corporate culture: An exploration of workload and performativity in a university","volume":"75","author":"Kenny","year":"2018","journal-title":"High. Educ."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Keddie, A. (2017). Thriving amid the performative demands of the contemporary audit culture: A matter of school context. Michel Foucault and Education Policy Analysis, Routledge."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1080\/17457823.2017.1347885","article-title":"Effects from audit culture and neoliberalism on university teaching: An autoethnographic perspective","volume":"13","year":"2018","journal-title":"Ethnogr. Educ."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"478","DOI":"10.1057\/s41307-022-00268-y","article-title":"Where to publish: Chinese HSS academics\u2019 responses to \u2018Breaking SSCI Supremacy\u2019 policies","volume":"36","author":"Gao","year":"2023","journal-title":"High. Educ. Policy"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.2308\/ajpt-50342","article-title":"A summary of research on external auditor reliance on the internal audit function","volume":"32","author":"Brandon","year":"2013","journal-title":"Audit. J. Pract. Theory"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Kamens, D.H. (2013). Globalization and the emergence of an audit culture: PISA and the search for \u2018best practices\u2019 and magic bullets. PISA, Power, and Policy: The Emergence of Global Educational Governance, Symposium Books Ltd."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.2308\/ajpt-50006","article-title":"A framework for understanding and researching audit quality","volume":"30","author":"Francis","year":"2011","journal-title":"Audit. J. Pract. Theory"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2308\/ajpt-51170","article-title":"\u201cDoing good field research\u201d: Assessing the quality of audit field research","volume":"35","author":"Malsch","year":"2016","journal-title":"Audit. J. Pract. Theory"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"278","DOI":"10.1177\/1463499608093815","article-title":"Audit Culture and Illiberal Governance","volume":"8","author":"Shore","year":"2008","journal-title":"Anthropol. Theory"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tourish, D., Craig, R., and Amernic, J. (2017). A mania for assessment: How an audit culture undermines the purpose of universities. The Corporatization of the Business School, Routledge.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315640594-3"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"82","DOI":"10.1108\/QRAM-10-2019-0111","article-title":"From Professional Bureaucracy to Competitive Bureaucracy\u2013Redefining Universities\u2019 Organization Principles, Performance Measurement Criteria, and Reason for Being","volume":"17","author":"Kallio","year":"2020","journal-title":"Qual. Res. Account. Manag."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"743","DOI":"10.1177\/1077800419878750","article-title":"Technologies of Governance in Context: Four Global Windows into Neoliberalism and Audit Culture in Higher Education","volume":"26","author":"Spooner","year":"2020","journal-title":"Qual. Inq."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Harvey, D. (2005). Spaces of Neoliberalization: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development, Franz Steiner Verlag."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"256","DOI":"10.1108\/AAAJ-02-2019-3869","article-title":"Accounting, Performance Management Systems and Accountability Changes in Knowledge-Intensive Public Organizations: A Literature Review and Research Agenda","volume":"33","author":"Grossi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Account. Audit. Account. J."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1353\/pla.2017.0006","article-title":"Ideology and Audit Culture: Standardized Service Quality Surveys in Academic Libraries","volume":"17","author":"Lilburn","year":"2017","journal-title":"Portal Libr. Acad."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-4762.2012.01091.x","article-title":"Apparitions of Neoliberalism: Revisiting \u2018Jungle Law Breaks Out\u2019","volume":"44","author":"Peck","year":"2012","journal-title":"Area"},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Beck, U., Giddens, A., and Lash, S. (1994). Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order, Stanford University Press."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"161","article-title":"The Role of Finance in Economic Development\u2013Benefits, Risks, and Politics","volume":"Volume 2011","author":"Beck","year":"2012","journal-title":"Finance and Development"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Power, M. (1994). The Audit Explosion, Demos."},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"119","article-title":"Institutional Creativity and Pathologies of Potential Space: The Modern University","volume":"13","author":"MacRury","year":"2007","journal-title":"Psychodyn. Pract."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ishikawa, M. (2021). Ranking Regime and the Future of Vernacular Scholarship. Measuring Up in Higher Education: How University Rankings and League Tables Are Re-Shaping Knowledge Production in the Global Era, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-15-7921-9_6"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1080\/23322969.2018.1424562","article-title":"Reshaping the World Order of Higher Education: The Role and Impact of Rankings on National and Global Systems","volume":"2","author":"Hazelkorn","year":"2018","journal-title":"Policy Rev. High Educ."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"585","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-018-2666-1","article-title":"University Rankings: What Do They Really Show?","volume":"115","author":"Johnes","year":"2018","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Rojo, L.M. (2016). Language and Power. The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society, Oxford University Press."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"511","DOI":"10.1057\/s41307-016-0022-8","article-title":"Audit Culture and Academic Production","volume":"29","author":"Welch","year":"2016","journal-title":"High Educ. Policy"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.3167\/096720105780644308","article-title":"Audit Culture and the Politics of Accountability: A Comparative Perspective","volume":"12","author":"DiGiacomo","year":"2005","journal-title":"Anthropol. Action"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2134","DOI":"10.1080\/03075079.2020.1712693","article-title":"The UK Higher Education Senior Management Survey: A Statactivist Response to Managerialist Governance","volume":"46","author":"Erickson","year":"2021","journal-title":"Stud. High Educ."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101713","DOI":"10.1016\/j.evalprogplan.2019.101713","article-title":"Governing and Managing Higher Education Institutions: The Quality Audit Contributions","volume":"77","author":"Kooli","year":"2019","journal-title":"Eval. Program Plan."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.2307\/2661148","article-title":"Audit Culture and Anthropology: Neo-Liberalism in British Higher Education","volume":"5","author":"Shore","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. R. Anthropol. Inst."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"178","DOI":"10.1177\/0038026118754780","article-title":"Neo-liberalisation, Universities and the Values of Bureaucracy","volume":"67","author":"Nash","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sociol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1007\/s10993-018-9492-4","article-title":"Linguistic Entrepreneurship as Affective Regime: Organizations, Audit Culture, and Second\/Foreign Language Education Policy","volume":"18","author":"Park","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lang. Policy"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"857","DOI":"10.1080\/03075070902898664","article-title":"Academic Pedagogies, Quality Logics and Performative Universities: Evaluating Teaching and What Students Want","volume":"34","author":"Blackmore","year":"2009","journal-title":"Stud. High Educ."},{"key":"ref_38","first-page":"40","article-title":"The Macro Logic of University Personnel System Reform and the Micro-Action of Teachers' Academic Work: The Game between Audit Culture and Academic Culture","volume":"38","author":"Lin","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. East China Norm. Univ. (Educ. Sci.)"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"947","DOI":"10.1111\/bjso.12438","article-title":"Neoliberalism Can Reduce Well-Being by Promoting a Sense of Social Disconnection, Competition, and Loneliness","volume":"60","author":"Becker","year":"2021","journal-title":"Br. J. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.46303\/repam.2022.7","article-title":"Through the Eyes of Novice Teachers: Experiences with Professional Cultures Within and Outside of Neoliberal \u201cNo-Excuses\u201d Charter Schools","volume":"4","author":"Waychunas","year":"2022","journal-title":"Res. Educ. Policy Manag."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1080\/14747731.2015.1016301","article-title":"The New Politics of Development: Citizens, Civil Society, and the Evolution of Neoliberal Development Policy","volume":"12","author":"Carroll","year":"2015","journal-title":"Globalizations"},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"12","article-title":"Trends regarding Western and Chinese journals","volume":"2","author":"Wu","year":"2003","journal-title":"Sci. Pub."},{"key":"ref_43","first-page":"79","article-title":"Status and analysis of English editions of Chinese science and technology periodicals","volume":"4","author":"Bi","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Southeast Univ. (Philos. Soc. Sci.)"},{"key":"ref_44","first-page":"13","article-title":"Coverage of Chinese scientific journals by six international indexing systems","volume":"1","author":"Xiang","year":"2002","journal-title":"Sci. Pub."},{"key":"ref_45","first-page":"113","article-title":"Evaluation of scientific journals and analysis of scientific publication by natural scientists at Beijing University","volume":"23","author":"Wu","year":"2002","journal-title":"Sci. Res. Manag."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1938351","DOI":"10.1080\/23311975.2021.1938351","article-title":"Mapping of internal audit research in China: A systematic literature review and future research agenda","volume":"8","author":"Hazaea","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cogent Bus. Manag."},{"key":"ref_47","first-page":"780","article-title":"A review of the impact of traditional culture on auditing","volume":"9","author":"Wu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Am. J. Ind. Bus. Manag."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Deng, Y. (2023). Reversing the trend toward utilitarianism in education. The Frontier of Education Reform and Development in China: Articles from Educational Research, Springer Nature Singapore.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-19-6355-1_1"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"495","DOI":"10.1057\/s41307-016-0011-y","article-title":"The shifting sands of academic output: University of Cape Town research output in education and social anthropology\u20141993\u20132013","volume":"29","author":"Soudien","year":"2016","journal-title":"High. Educ. Policy"},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5233","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-022-04384-9","article-title":"Exploring the characteristics of special issues: Distribution, topicality, and citation impact","volume":"127","author":"Huang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1080\/13562511003740817","article-title":"Audit cultures and quality assurance mechanisms in England: A study of their perceived impact on the work of academics","volume":"15","author":"Cheng","year":"2010","journal-title":"Teach. High. Educ."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1023\/B:SCIE.0000013301.01329.7a","article-title":"Patterns of the foreign contributions in some domestic vs. international journals on Earth Sciences","volume":"59","year":"2004","journal-title":"Scientometrics"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"607","DOI":"10.1080\/07294360.2017.1389858","article-title":"Higher education journals: Their characteristics and contribution","volume":"37","author":"Tight","year":"2018","journal-title":"High. Educ. Res. Dev."},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.5305\/amerjintelaw.106.1.0001","article-title":"The empirical turn in international legal scholarship","volume":"106","author":"Shaffer","year":"2012","journal-title":"Am. J. Int. Law"},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"263","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1467-839X.2003.00126.x","article-title":"Methodological and theoretical issues on psychological traditionality and modernity research in an Asian society: In response to Kwang-Kuo Hwang and beyond","volume":"6","author":"Yang","year":"2003","journal-title":"Asian J. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"418","DOI":"10.1093\/reseval\/rvaa023","article-title":"The effect of competitive public funding on scientific output: A comparison between China and the EU","volume":"29","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Res. Eval."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104591","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2022.104591","article-title":"A helping hand from the government? How public research funding affects academic output in less-prestigious universities in China","volume":"51","author":"Yu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Res. Policy"},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"959","DOI":"10.1007\/s11192-019-03073-4","article-title":"Research fund evaluation based on academic publication output analysis: The case of Chinese research fund evaluation","volume":"119","author":"Gao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Scientometrics"}],"container-title":["Publications"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-6775\/12\/4\/44\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T16:44:47Z","timestamp":1760114687000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-6775\/12\/4\/44"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,2]]},"references-count":58,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12]]}},"alternative-id":["publications12040044"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/publications12040044","relation":{},"ISSN":["2304-6775"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2304-6775","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,2]]}}}