Examining China's Internet Policies through a Bibliometric Approach

Abstract

In order to understand China's internet governance, this paper examined 1,931 Internet policies of China by bibliometric techniques. Specifically, the bibliometric techniques include simple document counting, co-word analysis, collaboration network analysis and citation analysis. The findings include: (1) China's Internet legislations mainly emphasized e-commerce and Internet governance, and, to some extent, neglected personal data protection; (2) China's Internet is under intensive multiple regulatory controls by central government. A large number of government agencies are involved in Internet policy-making. The Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Information Leading Group of the State Council, enforced fewer policy documents, but occupy higher positions in the Internet governance hierarchy; (3) China's Internet legislation system is primarily composed of industry-specific administrative rules, rather than laws or administrative regulations. Nevertheless, laws and administrative regulations received significantly more citations owing to their superior force. This paper also discussed current gaps in China's internet governance and how the country's internet policies are situated in the broader global context.

Keywords

• internet policy
• china
• internet governance
• bibliometric techniques
• networks