Strategies for establishing and developing an international journal in the high-speed railway field

This paper reviews the innovative international development practices promoted by High-speed Railway (HSPR), a journal launched under the “High-Starting-Point New Journals” subprogram of the Excellence Action Plan for Chinese Scientific Journals. With the goal of establishing a world-class journal in the traffic and transportation field, this study explores a model for developing a leading science and technology journal aligned with the goals of the “Double First-Class” initiative (China’s program for developing world-class universities and disciplines). Using statistical data analysis, the study conducts a comparative analysis of global high-speed railway development and high-impact traffic and transportation journals. It examines the consolidation of the sponsor university resources, the composition of the editorial board, and its regional distribution. Furthermore, this paper explains how the editor-in-chief team, editorial board, and Young editorial board collaboratively guide the journal’s focus based on disciplinary trends and establish a targeted editorial scope. The team’s efforts in developing professional publishing capabilities are summarized, as is the strong support provided by the sponsor university’s existing publishing journals. Finally, the journal of High-speed Railway’s achievements are discussed to provide a reference for the future novel established international journals in traffic and transportation and other related fields.