Portraits of International Authors of Journals in China

This paper aims to paint portraits of international authors contributing to journals in China and to analyse the relationship between these authors and journals. An international authorship is crucial to the academic quality and global influence of journals. This study integrates bibliometric analysis with academic portrait methods. It employs the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth‐share matrix to identify and label critical dimensions of international authors' research. The findings indicate that scholars from the United States, India, Japan, Germany, Australia and other countries are the main international contributors to journals in China. These authors present unique characteristics in terms of quantity, collaboration, influence, loyalty and quality. The characteristics of scholars from these countries/regions in terms of dimensions such as research areas, open access, funding sources and Sustainable Development Goals are also analysed.