Dongbi Index, China's independently developed global academic journal evaluation system, released its latest lists for global top journals for medical sciences and life sciences on March 21.

The lists were jointly issued by Dongbi Data, the Institute of Medical Information of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Library of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. They select 4,027 medical sciences journals and 3,064 life sciences journals out of more than 40,000 journals worldwide to form a multidimensional evaluation system.

Dubbed a "Chinese version of Scientific Citation Index (SCI)" , the Dongbi Index uses a "seed journal citation tracing and citation network hierarchy" to classify journals into four levels: A, B, C, and D.

A-level journals represent the field's top titles, B and C form the academic backbone, and D covers emerging and specialized areas, balancing authority with disciplinary diversity.

According to Dongbi Index, Chinese authors contributed 17.2 percent of global papers in the medical sciences field and nearly one-third of papers in life sciences in 2025.

With biopharmaceuticals designated as one of Shanghai's three leading industries, the city has accumulated extensive data in medicine and life sciences, creating a favorable ecosystem for AI-driven scientific research.

Zhai Jinguo, deputy director of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, noted that Shanghai is committed to advancing the high-quality development of scientific journals and deepening the use of evaluation systems in research project management, as well as in talent and institutional assessment.

Source: Shanghai Observer