CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure; ) is a private-owned publishing company in China since 2014. It operates databases of academic journals,

conference proceedings In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings are a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confer ...

, newspapers,

reference work A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

s, and

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

documents. CNKI maintains monopoly status on journal search and collection in China and charges high annual database subscription fees. Its subscription fee increases every year. Multiple Chinese universities and research institutions, including the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

and

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

, stopped subscribing to CNKI. CNKI was fined CNY 87.6 million for

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

by the

State Administration for Market Regulation The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR; ) is a ministerial-level agency directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for market supervision and management. SAMR was established in 2018. It is China ...

in 2022, and fined CNY 50 million for illegal gathering of personal information by the

Cyberspace Administration of China The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC; ) is the national internet regulator and censor of the People's Republic of China. The agency was initially established in 2011 by the State Council as the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) ...

in 2023.

History and operation

The predecessor of CNKI, China Academic Journals CD-ROM (CAJ-CD), was launched in January 1997 as China's first academic journal search system that publishes regularly. It included 3,500 Chinese journals in the fields of sciences, engineering, humanities, and social science. Published by a unit under

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

and created with the permission of the National Press and Publication Administration, the database was released as

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

s, with each containing journals of a field. A disc was released monthly, except the volume on

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

, history, and philosophy, which was released every two months. In 1999, the database could also be accessed on the web. It allowed users to comment, search, and inquire about academic works. In August 1997, the China Academic Journals Electronic Publishing House (CAJEPH) was established under the governance of the National Press and Publication Administration. The operation was run by Tsinghua University. CNKI owns a system called "China Integrated Knowledge Resources System," including journals, doctoral dissertations, masters' theses, proceedings, newspapers, yearbooks, statistical yearbooks, e-books, patents and standards. In 2013, CNKI became the second DOI registration agency in mainland China, after the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Government investigations

By 2022, CNKI has been criticized for its high subscription fees that could be maintained because of its monopoly over journal search and collection service in China. Prominent Chinese universities and research institutions, including

and the state-owned

, have stopped subscribing to CNKI because of the fees. The public controversy was followed by a Chinese government investigation for

anti-competitive practices Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce Competition (economics), competition in a market. Competition law, Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, u ...

. In May 2022, the

launched an investigation into CNKI. The regulator said that since 2014, CNKI had violated anti-competition laws by raising prices repeatedly and splitting its database into smaller ones while keeping the price (see shrinkflation). The regulator also found that CNKI's operator use exclusivity clauses to prohibit tertiary institutions from granting publishing rights of articles and theses to third parties. In December, CNKI's operator was fined 87.6 million

Chinese yuan The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...

(US$12.6 million), or 5 percent of its sales in China in 2021, and asked to cancel its exclusive agreements. In June 2022, the

announced a cybersecurity review on CNKI "to prevent national data security risks, safeguard national security, and protect public interests". CNKI was fined 50 million

(US$6.84 million) for not disclosing the terms of personal information collection, allowing account deletion, and removing personal information after an account is deleted.

Foreign access

In March 2023, CNKI said that it will terminate access for universities and research institutions outside of

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. However, the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

and some universities in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Macau, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States can still access CNKI through their university library portals.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Academic publishing companies Chinese digital libraries Commercial digital libraries 1996 establishments in China Scholarly search services Tsinghua University