Abstract：During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a controversy as to whether research articles should be published first in international journals or in domestic Chinese journals first. Comparing the international and domestic journals in terms of publication efficiency and information circulation, we find that English-medium international journals enjoy the advantages of both aspects and there is a long way to go before research articles are published in Chinese and in domestic journals first. We offer the following suggestions. First, the current evaluation system must be changed to attract researchers to submit their articles to Chinese journals. Emphasis might be placed on the impact factors of the paper rather than its international or domestic publication. Second, the publication of research articles must be adapted to the changing situation and hot topic articles might be published in the China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) before they have their print copies. Third, the current reviewing of submitted manuscripts might be reformed to simplify the peer-reviewing procedure of some controversial articles. Fourth, the articles published in CNKI might be withdrawn according to the comments and responses of peer-reviewers and readers. Fifth, the number of English-medium domestic journals should be increased greatly to satisfy the needs of researchers who attempt to share their research with international colleagues as quickly as possible. Finally, we may study the feasibility of publishing research articles in both international and domestic journals at the same time. For example, the English abstracts published in Chinese journals might be substantially long (say, approximately 800 words) so that international readers can obtain core contents.
