Building an Open Access Platform for Chinese Law and Policy (2026-2027)

Background

Scholars of Chinese law and policy face persistent challenges in accessing, interpreting and sharing research materials. Barriers include limited transparency around research processes, fragmented or difficult-to-access primary sources and inconsistent open-access practices across publishers and jurisdictions. These challenges impede scholarly collaboration, slow discovery and make it harder for researchers to understand methodologies, data sources and analytical frameworks used in existing scholarship.

The legal environment surrounding open access is also rapidly changing. Copyright, licensing, privacy law and AI governance differ widely across China, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union. These variations influence how research can be shared, reused or repurposed, and they create uncertainty for scholars who work across borders or rely on digital resources.

A feasibility study by the 2025-2026 team confirmed two major needs: a transparent, searchable, open-access portal for Chinese law and policy scholarship, and a clearer understanding of the legal frameworks that govern responsible open knowledge production.

Project Description

The 2026-2027 project will transform last year’s feasibility work into a functional open-access platform designed to enhance research transparency, usability and cross-border collaboration. The project has two main objectives:

Build and pilot an open-access portal for Chinese law and policy research
The team will:

Collect, refine and annotate key scholarly works using a rubric developed during the feasibility phase.
Design and implement workflows to responsibly use low-code AI tools to support metadata creation, topic modeling, subject classification and extraction of research methods, theories and data sources with human verification for accuracy.
Develop a transparency evaluation rubric and create an interactive dashboard to visualize research transparency across methods, data resources and limitations.
Refine the portal’s navigation and infrastructure and assess its transparency indicators and usability features.

Track evolving legal and ethical frameworks governing open access
Parallel to the technical work, the team will:

Monitor changes in copyright, licensing, privacy and open-access laws, regulations and policies in China, the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the EU.
Compare how these legal developments shape the accessibility, feasibility and design of open-access tools in the age of AI.
Produce policy briefs and reflective analyses highlighting implications for responsible AI use, content sharing and cross-border research collaboration.

Throughout the year, the team will engage with scholars, librarians, legal experts and practitioners to refine the platform and advance conversations about open scholarship in area studies.

Anticipated Outputs

Public pilot of the open-access research portal (by Summer 2027)
Transparency evaluation rubric and dashboard
Multi-country tracker on legal and regulatory frameworks affecting open research
White papers and policy briefs
Conference presentations and public engagement materials

Student Opportunities

The team will include 2 graduate students and 7 undergraduate students. Ideal participants will have:

Interest in Chinese law, public policy or global regulatory systems
Attention to detail and patience for scholarly reading and metadata work
Curiosity about AI-assisted research, digital tools and open knowledge infrastructures
Training or experience in pre-law, social science research, public policy or data science

Students will have opportunities to:

Select, evaluate and annotate scholarly works
Generate metadata, research summaries and methodological classifications
Analyze legal and policy developments across jurisdictions
Assess and test AI tools for summarization and information extraction
Build and refine the portal and transparency dashboard
Prepare posters, scholarly articles, policy papers and presentations
Engage with scholars, librarians and policy experts across multiple fields

Graduate students will help lead subteams, set research goals, mentor undergraduates and review research products.

Timing

Summer 2026 – Summer 2027

Summer 2026 (optional)

Update literature reviews
Examine open-access laws and AI governance frameworks
Assess and test AI tools for automation and information extraction

Fall 2026:

Whole-team discussions of summer findings
Portal content building
Divide into two subteams: Team A: content refinement and policy analysis; Team B: portal refinement and dashboard design

Spring 2027:

Integrate subteam findings
Refine portal features and transparency dashboard
Present early results at conferences (virtual or in-person)

Summer 2027 (optional):

Pilot the platform
Gather stakeholder feedback
Prepare for public release

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters; summer funding available

See earlier related team, Open Access Portal on Chinese Law and Policy (2025-2026).