Abstract:

This article designs a four-dimensional composite indicator system for measuring the completion level of English-language academic journal establishment; drawing on the attention theory and taking the establishment of English-language scientific and technological journals at Huazhong Agricultural University as a case study, analyzes the generation and allocation of leaders’ and scholars’ attention throughout the founding process of university-run English scientific and technological journals. Attention is generated and allocated via the mechanism of policy impetus—competitive demonstration—persuasive enhancement. It is generated by policy impetus and competitive demonstration, and allocated via multi-dimensional persuasive enhancement among multiple journal-founding entities. This article further explores the “willingness-action” logic of scholars’ attention concerning the fundamental issues of who manages journals and how to achieve high-quality journal development during the journals’ sustainable development stage. Leaders’ attention serves as the exogenous driving force for journal establishment by providing resource allocation and institutional guarantees, while scholars’ attention, originating from their willingness to launch journals and further translated into investment of time and energy, constitutes the endogenous driving force for defining journal positioning, safeguarding academic quality, expanding manuscript sources and constructing a diversified and integrated communication system. The push-pull effect formed by dual attention acts as the core impetus for English-language journals to develop from scratch to first-class status. This article develops a practical assessment tool for evaluating the operation of university journals, especially English scientific and technological journals. It clarifies the significance of consistently mobilizing leaders’ and scholars’ attention in journal founding, provides a possible explanation for the differences in universities’ attitudes towards founding English-language scientific and technological journals and the differentiation among such journals.