The Norwegian Register inspires across borders
This autumn, the Norwegian Register has visited colleagues in Germany and Finland. We returned home with new insights, new connections and fresh inspiration for our continued work on quality in scholarly publishing.
The historical bridge Die Steinerne Brücke in Regensburg. Foto: Lena-Cecilie Linge
Germany looks to Norway’s experience
Earlier this year, the Norwegian Register at the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills was invited to take part in a workshop in Germany. The invitation came from Regensburg University Library, which operates the Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (EZB), known in English as the Electronic Journals Library.
EZB is an index of scholarly journals that provides information about the journals it covers. The service was established in 1997 and is publicly funded. Participating institutions work with EZB to keep the index up to date. Unlike the Norwegian Register, however, EZB does not assess the academic quality of the journals it includes.
Could EZB become Germany’s equivalent of the Norwegian Register?
This was precisely what the workshop set out to explore: Could EZB provide the basis for a national, formal system for assessing scholarly journals in Germany? Could Germany build on the experience gained from the Norwegian Register and ERIH+ in Norway and the JUFO Portal in Finland?
A representative of the Norwegian Register arrived at Regensburg University Library with great anticipation on the first day of October. The Norwegian Register received a warm welcome from the library director and the other participants from the university library and EZB.
Our German colleagues were particularly interested in how academic quality is assessed in Norway. They asked many questions, including about the criteria for approval and how the work is organised. Throughout the workshop, the Norwegian Register was highlighted as a good example of how the academic quality of publication channels (journals, series and publishers) can be assessed.
Opportunities for closer European cooperation
The workshop brought together more than 20 participants, primarily from the German research community and university libraries. Representatives of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, which operates the JUFO Portal, the French journal index Mir@bel, the European Diamond Capacity Hub and the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) also took part.
The workshop therefore provided an excellent opportunity to learn more about other European journal indexes and services working to promote quality in scholarly publishing.
One of the conclusions to emerge from the workshop was that closer European cooperation across national borders and infrastructures could be beneficial. The idea of an international journal register was also raised, although a more realistic goal may be closer dialogue on quality assessment and the challenges we have in common.
By sharing experience and national expertise, countries can learn from one another and strengthen their work on assessing scholarly publication channels.
Sharing experiences with Finnish colleagues
After our visit to Germany, we travelled on to Helsinki to visit the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies together with the Norwegian National Board of Scholarly Publishing (NPU). The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies operates the JUFO Portal, which in many respects is the Finnish equivalent of the Norwegian Register.
The purpose of the meeting was to share experiences, learn more about each other’s systems and discuss common challenges relating to the assessment of academic quality.
The Norwegian Register and the JUFO Portal share many similarities in both their criteria and processes. It was therefore particularly useful to learn how the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies develops and maintains the JUFO Portal and how it assesses and assigns levels to scholarly publication channels.
Karolinska Institutet builds on Norwegian and Finnish experience
Karolinska Institutet also took part in the meeting online. The Institute has developed its own list of scholarly journals.
Like the Norwegian and Finnish systems, the list is intended to help researchers identify scholarly journals that have undergone quality assessment. It is also used in connection with the internal allocation of financial support at Karolinska Institutet.
It was interesting to hear how Karolinska Institutet has developed its list based on experience from the Norwegian Register and the JUFO Portal.
The Norwegian Register has an impact beyond Norway
The fact that the Norwegian Register is invited to international meetings to share our experience and explain how we work shows that the Norwegian system is attracting interest beyond Norway.
It is motivating to see that Norway’s work on academic quality can inspire other countries and institutions. At the same time, these meetings give us new insights and perspectives that can benefit our own work.
We will be following developments in Germany with great interest. Together with NPU, we also look forward to continuing our dialogue and exchange of experience with the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies and Karolinska Institutet.
Read more
Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (EZB)
The Norwegian Register’s presentation at the Workshop.