The scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals in China are embracing unprecedented development opportunities. Many incentive policies have been introduced, accompanied by the initiation of a large number of funding projects. Under this supportive environment, STM journals in Chinese language try to adjust their publishing strategies, excavate topic selection, attract and invite high-quality manuscripts, and adopt diverse promotional methods, thus resulting in substantial development. Simultaneously, the rapid development of science and technologies brings about technological innovation. Particularly, the emergence and development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as ChatGDP and DeepSeek have created new opportunities and challenges for the Chinese-language STM journals. Though, such innovative technologies significantly optimize academic writing processes and simplify editorial tasks of journal editors, they bring confusion to editorial normative operation and ethical integrity. To address these issues, several standards or guidance documents have been established, such as the “Academic Publishing Specification—Definition of Academic Misconduct for Journals (CY/T 174—2019)”. To systematically understand the development status of Chinese-language STM journals and explore the steady development pathways for these journals, the development of Chinese-language STM journals in 2024 is briefly reviewed in this paper, and the performance metrics of Chinese-language STM journals are analyzed using data from the Annual Report for Chinese Academic Journal Impact Factors (Natural Science) (2020—2024), World Journal Clout Index (WJCI) of Scientific and Technological Periodicals (2022—2024), and Annual Report for International Citation of Chinese Academic Journals (Natural Science) (2024). The results show notable improvements in the discipline impact of Chinese-language STM journals in 2024. Firstly, the average impact factor, average total citations, average annual downloads, and average number of annually-published articles in 2024 have all increased compared to 2023. Secondly, all average evaluation indicators from World Journal Clout Index (WJCI) in 2024 are larger than those in 2023, and the number of selected species increases year by year. Moreover, Chinese-language STM journals have also performed well in database inclusion. In 2024, more than 35 journals were included in the “Key Magazine of China Technology”, more than 124 journals were indexed by SCOPUS, and more than 64 journals were included by the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Though the absolute values of impact indices of major Chinese-language STM journals in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) for SCI in 2024 were reduced, most Chinese-language STM journals improved slightly in subject rankings. Based on the aforementioned findings, alongside the development policies for Chinese-language STM journals, this paper thoroughly explores the authoritative database inclusion status of Chinese-language STM journals, the status quo of Chinese-language STM journals selected in the “Excellence Action Plan for China STM Journals”, and the development trends of these journals in 2024. In light of the current development environment of STM journals at home and abroad, some suggestions are proposed to promote the sustainable and high-quality development of Chinese-language STM journals: leveraging policy support to solidify foundations; embracing open science to broaden perspectives; practicing credibility construction to ensure steady progress; and integrating the new AI technologies to lead the future intelligently.