Chinese institutional payments for publishing dermatology journal articles

Cash prizes for academic publication were introduced by the Department of Physics at Nanjing University in the 1990s. Most Chinese universities and research institutions have established cash rewards for first authors of publications. Potential payments ranged from ~$14,000 for an original research article in JAAD to ~$2000 for a case report in JAMA Dermatology. We examined rewards for publication of academic dermatological articles in China by searching for the cash-reward policies of general and dermatology Chinese hospitals. Specific cash-rewards for publication in the top three highest impact dermatological journals were recorded and compared between two dermatological hospitals, four general hospitals, and Chinese national core journals. Rewards were based upon the Science Citation Index (SCI), impact factor (IF) and publication type. Payment policies were compared between dermatological hospital and general hospitals using the t-test. There was no statistically significant difference between the cash reward payments allotted by general versus dermatological hospitals in China (P=0.32). Chinese authors may receive monetary rewards for a publication in a top dermatology journal based upon journal impact factor and publication type. These policies motivate academic publications and provide an alternative means to reward researchers for their scientific achievements than currently practiced in the West.