Criteria for level 1

The minimum criteria for approving a publication channel for level 1 is:

• Valid ISSN (journals and series) - see the section General and ISSN.
• An academic editorial board - see the section Editorial.
• External peer review - see the section Peer review.
• National or international authorship – see the section Authorship.
• Academic publications - see the section Publications and Additional criteria for some publication channels.

We assess the publication channels based on an overall impression, based on the points below.

General

• Journals and series with their own ISSN, must be registered as independent publication channels.
• Publishers must be registered when the series does not have their own ISSN and are only published with ISBN.
• Publishers that only publish publications with ISSN, will not be accepted because the ISSN-titles count as independent publication channels.
• The publication channel must have a website with necessary and relevant information.

ISSN (applies to journals and series)

• The publication channel must have at least one valid ISSN that is registered in the ISSN Register.
• At least one ISSN must have the status “confirmed”, meaning that the ISSN Register have controlled the publication.
• Publication channels with ISSN that have the status “assigned” or “unreported”, will not be approved.
• ISSN must appear clearly on the website.
• The title on the website and the title registered in the ISSN Register should be the same.

Website

The website of a journal, series or publisher must contain

• A description of routines for peer review (see separate section for more detailed description).
• A list of the members of the editorial board, including their academic affiliation, and should also include their academic title (see separate section for more detailed description).
• An archive of at least the last two years’ publications (journals and series) or a backlist (publishers).
• Information about the publication channel’s profile, target group, aims and scope.
• A description of the periodicity of releases. For instance, if it is stated that there are published two issues each year, the publication history should confirm this.
• A description of the publication channel’s copyright policy.
• A description of the publication channel's ethical guidelines.
• A description of the publication channel's routines regarding plagiarism.
• A description of the publication channel’s routines regarding open access (see separate section).
• A description of the cost of publishing. If there are no cost for publishing in the publication channel, this should be clearly stated.
• Contact information (office address, contact person/contact address).

The website of a journal, series or publisher should

• Offer the same information in all languages in which the website is available.

Editorial

• The publication channel must have an academic editorial board, consisting of at least three members. An academic editorial board means an editor and an editorial board affiliated to research institutions.
• The editorial board must primarily consist of researchers employed at universities, research institutes or organisations that conduct research.
• Publishers must be organized in an editorial way to publish publications in accordance with the definition of an academic publication.
• The information about the editorial board should be openly available at the publication channel’s website.
• The members of the editorial board must be listed on the website, together with information about their institutional affiliation.
• If the publication channel is published by a university or institution, at least one third of the editorial board should be from an institution other than the publisher of the publication channel.

Peer review

• The routines for peer review must be clearly described. It is not enough to write that the contributions will be peer reviewed, the process must be described.
• The contributions must be peer reviewed before they are published.
• The peer review must be conducted by at least one external reviewer who is an expert within the scientific field of the contribution.
• The reviewer must be without affiliations to the author and the editors and publisher.
• The reviewers must relate to the academic originality and quality of the work.
• The editorial board must see to that there are no conflicts of interest or affiliations between the authors and the reviewers (see separate section).

Authorship

• Authorship means name and institutional affiliation of the authors, preferably together with the author’s contribution.
• The author’s name and affiliation must be openly available, either in the articles, abstracts or on the website.
• The authorship must be international or national, and not local.
• The authorship is local when more than 2/3 of the authors in the two last year’s publications are from the same institution.

Publications

• The publication channel must publish academic content.
• The academic content must be peer reviewed before publication.
• Publishers must have an academic publishing program with the aim of distribute to scholars and research institutions.
• The publication channel must have a backlist of academic titles for the two last years.
• Abstracts and information about the authors of the contributions for the las two years, should be openly available.

Conflict of interest

• The publication channel should follow normal standards when it comes to conflicts of interest.

Relevance

The publication channel must be of relevance for the Norwegian research community. By that we mean that the publication channel

• Should be scientific relevant within its scientific field in Norwegian and/or international academic environments.
• Must be suggested as an academic publication channel by
  • Scholars or other personnel affiliated with at Norwegian, Swedish and/or Danish research institution.
  • Editors in Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish publication channels.
  • Members of editorial boards in Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish journals.
  • Members of Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish academic associations.
  • Must be proposed by a person, and not a publisher, journal, institution, or association etc.
• The suggester must justify the suggestion on the basis of professional interest, not as a result of pressure from the publisher or editorial staff.
• Must be suggested by a person, not a publisher, journal, institution or association etc.
• Suggestions from persons without affiliations to Scandinavian institutions, journal editorial boards or academic associations will not be treated.

Open Access

If the journal/series claims Open Access, the publication channel should

• Be indexed in DOAJ.
• All articles should be open access instantly.
• The articles should be able to be read without having to register as a user or in any ways log in.
• Information about the guidelines for Open Access should be clearly stated at the webpage.
• Information about Article Processing Charge (APC) and other fees should clearly be stated at the webpage.

Special editions

• Special editions is the responsibility of the editor, and the journal’s rules and guidelines apply.
• Articles in special editions should have a well-defined thematic consistency, and the topics must have a clear relationship to the profile of the publication channel.

Also see before you suggest a new publication channel and Additional criteria for some publication channels.