ERIH PLUS evaluation criteria
Published 2021-04-20
All suggested journals are thoroughly evaluated based on minimum criteria and on the other evaluation factors (mentioned at the bottom) The minimum criteria must be fulfilled for the journal to be further evaluated.
If a journal is rejected upon evaluation it will be restricted from applying again for a minimum of two years. The purpose of this restriction is to ensure that rejected journals improve their practice in accordance with the grounds of rejection given by the ERIH PLUS team.
ERIH PLUS minimum Criteria
Only scientific periodicals/journals may be included in ERIH PLUS. Books, monographic series and conference proceedings are currently not included.
ERIH PLUS will not be evaluating journals suggested by publishers, members of the editorial board or others affiliated with a journal. Submissions from researchers, research advisors, librarians or the general public are welcomed. This has been a criteria for many years, but has not been strictly followed. Due to many submissions lately ERIH PLUS has decided to revive this criteria.
Journals must meet the following minimum requirements:
- ERIH PLUS requires an explicit description of the journal’s procedures for external/independent peer review. As a minimum, the journal’s website must describe how the process ensures that reviewers are independent of the authors, i.e. not affiliated with the same institution.
- ERIH PLUS requires that the members of the academic editorial board are listed, along with their affiliations (universities or other independent research institutions).
- ERIH PLUS requires a valid ISSN code, confirmed by the International ISSN Portal. Be advised that journals with ISSN codes listed as “assigned to a publication but not yet confirmed” or “free ISSN” will not be processed.
- ERIH PLUS requires that all original articles are accompanied by abstracts in English. As the ERIH PLUS team needs access to the abstracts in order to evaluate the journal, they should be available online.
- ERIH PLUS requires information on author affiliations for all scholarly articles for the last two years of publication, i.e. the full names of the respective universities or other independent research institutions. ERIH PLUS encourages journals also to include author addresses (either email or postal addresses).
- ERIH PLUS requires that no more than two thirds of the authors published in the journal are from the same institution. The authorship of journals is determined by reviewing the last two years of publication.
ERIH PLUS is a member of COPE and are aiming at following their standards.
We welcome the submission of all journals within the humanities and social sciences. However scientific publication channels even if published outside Europe but used by European scholars will be prioritized.
Other evaluation factors
In addition to the minimum criteria we also look at other aspects of the journal which may play a part in the evaluation process.
- Is the journal in other indexes?
- Is the journal relevant for European researchers or research areas?
- Does the journal have an APC? If so, is it on the high or low end?
- Does the journal have a Digital Identifier (like DOI) or is it a member of Crossref?
- What is the Open Access status of the journal?
- Does the journal have a statement on ethical publishing?
- Does the journal have a publication history of at least two years?
- Who is the journal intended for?
