1. The Thomson Reuters
journal selection process
By Dr. Atom Mkhitaryan
April, 2014

2. Today Web of Science covers over
12,000 top tier international and
regional journals in every area of
the natural sciences astronomy, biology, chemistry, the Earth sciences,
physics, mathematics and logic
social sciencesanthropology, economics, geography, history, political science,
psychology, social studies, sociology
arts and humanities Arts, Humanities, Language (including Linguistics),
Poetry, Music, Classical works, History, Oriental Studies, Philosophy, Archaeology, Architecture, History, Religion,
Television, Theater, and Radio

3. By analyzing 7,621 journals…
 50% of all citations came from only
300 of the journals
 these 300 top journals produced 30%
of all articles
 this core is not static ...

4. THE EVALUATION PROCESS
 Many factors are taken into account
when evaluating journals, ranging
from the qualitative to the
quantitative
 The evaluation of a journal begins
with the submission of current issues,
The publisher must deliver three
consecutive current issues
 Journal evaluation is ongoing

5. THE (ELECTRONIC) JOURNAL
Thomson Reuters evaluates journals that meet the following
minimum criteria:
 The journal publishes peer reviewed content.
 The journal has an ISSN registered with the ISSN
International Centre.
 The journal should include English language bibliographic
information, including
 Titles
 Abstracts
 Keywords
 Cited references
 The journal should include references in Roman script.

6.  Each year, the Thomson Reuters
editorial staff reviews over 2,000
journal titles for inclusion in Web of
Science. Around 10-12% of the
journals evaluated are accepted for
coverage.

7. BASIC PUBLISHING
STANDARDS
 timeliness
 international editorial conventions
 full text in English
 peer-review

8. CONTENT
 Thomson Reuters editors determine if
the content of a journal under
evaluation will enrich the database or
if the topic is already adequately
addressed in existing coverage.

9. INTERNATIONAL DIVERSITY
 authors, editors, and editorial advisory
board members
 Thomson Reuters is also interested in
excellent regional journals
 journals must be publishing on time, have
English-language bibliographic information
(title, abstract, keywords), and be peer
reviewed. Cited references must be in the
Roman alphabet

10. CITATION ANALYSIS
 Among 12000 + … journals
 Self-citation rates are also taken into
consideration (For example, journal X was cited 15,000
times by all journals, including the 2,000 times it cited itself. Its self-
cited rate is 2/15 or 13%)
 85% have self-citation rates of less
than 15%

11. SOCIAL SCIENCES
 All social science journals undergo the
same thorough evaluation as journals in
the natural sciences
 overall citation rates in the social sciences
are generally lower than those in the
natural sciences
 Regional studies have special importance in
the social sciences, as topics of local rather
than global interest are often the subject of
scholarly research

12. ARTS & HUMANITIES
 English-language text is not a
requirement in some areas of arts
and humanities scholarship where the
national focus of the study precludes
the need for it
 An example of this is studies in
regional or national literatures

13. ELECTRONIC JOURNALS
 Publishing standards, editorial content, international
diversity, and citation analysis are all considered
when evaluating a purely electronic journal
 Publishers should insure that it is easy to identify the
following elements:
-Journal Title
-Year of publication
-Volume and/or Issue Number (if applicable)
-Article Title
-Page Number or Article Number
-Authors names and addresses
-A complete table of contents for each issue that includes
the page/article number for each article

14. Impact Factor
 While calculating the impact factor following four factors
are considered along with scientific method & citation
analysis
 Qualtiy of Publication
 Manuscript Quality
 Presentational Quality
 Editorial Quality

15. Qualtiy of Publication
 Citation Counts : The no. of articles cited for
respective year of that journal.
 Journal Discipline : Discipline of the journal.
 Journals Estimated Importance and Relevance of the
Research Field.
 The journal's presence in various indexing services,
directories and listings.
 The main and important factor is journal publishing
regularity.
 Article Originality : It is the important factor for
getting Universal Impact Factor.If Plagairism is
detected in articles then the impact factor will be
reduced.

16. Manuscript Quality
 Correct page numbers and spelling in the document.
 Checking text and page numbers in table of contents.
 Checking and Ensuring tables, figures, references, etc. cited in text
 Checking lists, paragraphs, figures, etc., numbered or lettered
consecutively.
 Ensuring that there are no duplicate tables and figure titles
 Checking hyperlinks to references.
 Reviewing sentences for spelling and grammatical mistakes.
 Checking style, size, and typeface for headings, titles, bullets etc.
 Checking of Insertion of appropriate page breaks
 Ensuring consistent justification for text, callouts, cautions, warnings etc.
 Choosing correct size and layout of pages.
 Ensuring consistent use of capitalization and spelling.
 Applying proper numbering mechanics in the article.
 Checking format for bibliographic references, i.e. according to any of
Citation Style.
 Using punctuation consistently.

17. Presentational Quality
 Journal website design. i.e. ease of use, ease of access, online submission,
payment methods. In case of print only then quality of printed version of
journal, regularity of article publishing, back issue viewing.
 Degree of acceptance and presence of journal in the International and
National market.
 Management bodies for the journal governance - such as Editorial Board,
Advisory Board, Executive Board, Article Review Team etc.
 The International representation of research fellows in the Editorial Board
boosts the score of the journal, and it creates a chance to further the
journal's development.
 Printing quality of journal Cover page [i.e. all the items should appear
clearly: title, ISSN No. (Print / Online), frequency of the journal, current
volume/issue/part number, month/year etc.]. And In case of print version,
a hard copy should be sent for reviewing.
 The important factor of editorial quality is the standard composition of
presented article manuscripts and adherence to the journal's instructions for
its authors. For example, the summary should count 200-250 words and
have a structured form, i.e. standard structure of an article (background,
material and methods used, results, conclusion).
 References and Indices should be presented in proper sequencing order (as
they are cited in the text). The first five authors should be presented.

18. Editorial Quality
 The journal should include detailed editorial and
author guidelines information regarding manuscript
preparation.
 The journal editorial data ought to embrace a listing
of Editorial Board members, editorial correspondence
addresses, the name and address of the publisher,
ISSN and frequency of article publishing (monthly,
quarterly, bi annual, annual etc).
 The language of publication: English is preferred.
 Online Internet publication and its constant
maintenance.

19. HOW TO SUBMIT A JOURNAL
FOR EVALUATION
 http://wokinfo.com/publisher_relations/journals/
 Journal Title
 Journal Publisher
 Journal Subject Area
 ISSN
 Print/ Electronic
 Journal Website
 Country
 Your Name
 Email
 Your Role in Relation to Journal
 Comments