Open access adoption, quartile mobility, and publisher growth among Scopus-indexed journals in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia, 2015–2024: a bibliometric study

Purpose: This study compared the growth, distribution, and publisher profiles of Scopus-indexed journals in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia between 2015 and 2024, with the aim of contrasting regional publishing patterns.Methods: Journal data from the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) were analyzed for five ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) and five East Asian countries (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan). The analysis focused on quartile mobility, open access patterns, and publisher growth over the study period.Results: Both regions exhibited growth in Scopus-indexed journals, although this growth followed distinct national trajectories. Within ASEAN, Indonesia recorded the most substantial increase, whereas China accounted for the largest expansion in East Asia. Although many newly indexed journals entered the lower quartiles, Indonesia emerged as ASEAN’s largest Q1 contributor by 2024, while China dominated Q1 growth in East Asia. Open access output increased at a faster rate in ASEAN than in East Asia. Publisher activity also diverged between regions: Indonesian university presses drove a large share of ASEAN’s growth, whereas major Chinese publishers accounted for a substantial proportion of journal expansion in East Asia.Conclusion: Journal indexing growth across the five ASEAN and five East Asian countries examined reflects distinct institutional pathways, with differing national strategies shaping the development of indexed journals.