The World Journal of Pediatrics (WJP) Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence
Against the backdrop of a national drive to build world-class academic journals and strengthen China's voice in international scholarly discourse, the World Journal of Pediatrics (WJP) marked a significant milestone with its 20th Anniversary Celebration and Conference on High-Quality Development in Pediatrics on December 20, 2025. The grand event, hosted by Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZCH), brought together leaders, scholars, and international partners to honor two decades of achievement and chart the course ahead.
The conference featured distinguished attendees from government, academia, and global publishing. Yu Hanyin, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Director of the Provincial Press and Publication Administration, delivered opening remarks highlighting WJP's strategic role. He commended the journal for its consistent pursuit of excellence, noting its 14-year streak as the highest-impact pediatric journal in Asia and its position within the global first-tier of specialty publications. "As a vital platform for building an independent knowledge system, the rise of WJP signifies the growing international discourse power of Chinese pediatrics," he stated, expressing hope that WJP would further deepen global collaboration and become a "golden name card" for Chinese academic publishing.
Zhou Jianghong, Vice President of Zhejiang University, recognized ZCH's leadership in the discipline and WJP's role as an academic benchmark. He highlighted WJP's status as China's first international pediatric journal and one of the earliest English-language pediatric titles from mainland China to be indexed in SCIE, having been named one of "China's Most Influential International Academic Journals" nine times. "WJP perfectly embodies the symbiotic relationship between a journal and its academic discipline," he noted, urging the journal to maintain its original aspiration, embrace interdisciplinary "medicine-engineering-information" integration, and forge a distinct academic identity with global standards, Chinese character, Zhejiang University's imprint, and pediatric focus.
Wu Chen, Chairman of Zhejiang University Press, reviewed the press's long partnership with WJP. He emphasized WJP's unique position as the only English-language journal from Zhejiang University selected for the national "Leading Journals" plan and its role as a flagship representing China in global scholarly competition. "WJP stands as an outstanding example of systemic breakthrough in sci-tech publishing under national strategic guidance," Wu said.
Representing the host institution, Professor Zhang Weifang, Chairman of ZCH, reflected on WJP's remarkable journey. "From its challenging beginnings to its current international reputation, WJP has blazed a distinctive path of high-quality development," she said. She described the journal as having evolved beyond a traditional publication into a significant international platform showcasing Chinese academic confidence and responsibility, bridging global pediatric health discussions, contributing Chinese wisdom through guidelines, and integrating traditional cultural elements.
The celebration featured congratulatory messages from global partners. Marieke Cambeen, Executive Vice President of Journals at Springer Nature, affirmed that "WJP has become a significant force in the field of pediatrics" and looked forward to deeper cooperation. International Editorial Board members Prof. Daniele De Luca and Prof. Hein Raat praised the journal's broad disciplinary coverage, open approach, and its role as "a solid bridge" for global collaboration in child health.
The opening ceremony was presided over by ZCH Executive Vice President Zou Chaochun. Awards were presented to recognize the outstanding contributions of editorial board members and young scholars to WJP's success.
The scientific program commenced with keynote speeches. Founding Editor-in-Chief Professor Zhao Zhengyan delivered a comprehensive review titled "The Journey and Future of WJP," tracing the journal's 20-year evolution. He detailed its focus on national strategic needs and pediatric frontiers, its publication of high-impact content, and its efforts to build a global dissemination platform. The future goals are to benchmark against top international journals and further enhance its quality and impact.
Dr. Chang Cong, Executive Publisher for Medicine and Life Sciences at Springer Nature, presented the "WJP 2024-2025 Development Report and Outlook." Using detailed metrics, she highlighted the journal's growing international author base, optimized review cycles, strong performance of open access articles, and rising social media influence. Future priorities include strengthening international commissioned papers, enhancing content quality, and boosting engagement.
Professor Zhang Weifang also presented an academic report introducing the new affiliated journal, World Journal of Pediatric Mental Health (WJPMH). Addressing the global challenge of child and adolescent mental health, she outlined the vision to create an international academic high ground in this field from China, leveraging Zhejiang University's strengths in psychology and brain science, ZCH's integrated clinical-research practice, and WJP's proven editorial expertise. WJPMH has already been selected for a national high-starting-point project, aiming to fill a domestic gap and contribute Chinese solutions to global child mental health.
The conference, convened on the pivotal occasion of WJP's 20th anniversary, served as a global gathering of pediatric expertise, setting a clear direction for the future of both the journal and the field. Standing at this new starting point, WJP reaffirms its commitment to academic excellence, open collaboration, and innovation, striving to build a truly world-class academic journal and contribute to the "Healthy China" initiative, high-level self-reliance in science and technology, and the global cause of child health.
