Data elements are the data resources that people invest in the production of goods or services, and they create value in various business scenarios through aggregation, integration, and collaboration. Since China first explicitly listed data as a production factor in 2019, highlighting its function and status as a new type of production factor, it has become a consensus that data elements are an important component of new quality productivity in the digital intelligence era and a fundamental resource for creating value. The value creation of publishing enterprises refers to the process by which enterprises create economic and social value by providing knowledge products or services, and it is the core driving force for the existence and development of enterprises. Data elements are closely related to modern enterprises and are an important resource driving the value creation. As data-intensive enterprises, the role of data in publishing companies is becoming increasingly important. Specifically, data elements are the fundamental elements for the digital transformation and integrated development of publishing enterprises in the digital intelligence era. They empower publishing enterprises to create social, economic, and innovative value with their unique characteristics. The mechanism by which data elements empower the value creation of publishing enterprises lies in the exertion of their innovation mechanism, collaboration mechanism and predictive mechanism. However, current practical predicament of data elements empowering the value creation of publishing enterprises in China is reflected to varying degrees in the ontological, subject and environmental aspects of the value creation of data elements. To address these challenges, efforts should be made in three aspects: standardizing and balancing the collection and effective utilization of publishing data elements; establishing a data concept among publishing enterprises, setting up a publishing data system and enhancing the level of value transformation, as well as improving data security system guarantees, increasing infrastructure investment and strengthening data technology capabilities. These measures will further enhance the value creation capacity of publishing enterprises. In conclusion, the integration of data elements into the deep integration of publishing not only reshapes the production processes of publishing enterprises and enhances production efficiency, but also provides a powerful data-driven force for the creation of publishing value. Publishing data elements are leading the publishing industry towards a brand-new stage of digital transformation and deep integration with unprecedented power, thus making the collection, integration and mining of publishing data elements a new paradigm and new driving force for the creation of publishing value. Therefore, delving deeply into the underlying logic of how data elements empower the value creation of publishing enterprises, and recognizing the practical challenges and relief pathways associated with the role and value of data elements in the knowledge production, knowledge services, and business management activities of publishing enterprises, undoubtedly becomes an urgent issue that publishing enterprises need to solve to develop new-quality productive forces and achieve high-quality development.