Internationalization of Polish Journals in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Transformative Role of The Research Evaluation System

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs28794

Keywords:

Humanities, Internationalization, Poland, Polish Journal Ranking, Social Sciences

Abstract

This article discusses the transformations of Polish journals caused by the Polish Journal Ranking evaluation system. We focused on the internationalization of journals in the social sciences and humanities (N = 801), with the goal of investigating how science policy has transformed editorial practices at Polish journals. We used a mixed-method approach involving both one-way analysis of variance, two-way mixed design analysis of variance, and semi-structured interviews. Our findings showed that science policy has transformed editorial practices, but that there is no actual internationalization in Polish social sciences and humanities journals. Rather, there is only the ostensible internationalization that manifests in “gaming” the journal evaluation system. We found that the editors of Polish journals do not discuss the challenges of internationalization, and implement only those internationalization practices that are explicitly required in the system regulations. We conclude with recommendations for how to motivate the internationalization of journals and stem the corruption of parameters measuring internationalization.

Author Biographies

Emanuel Kulczycki, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland

Emanuel Kulczycki is an associate professor and the head of the Scholarly Communication Research Group in the Institute of Philosophy at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He focuses on research evaluation, open science, and publication practices.

Ewa Aleksandra Rozkosz, University of Lower Silesia, Poland

Ewa Aleksandra Rozkosz is the head of the Center for Scientific Information at the University of Lower Silesia in Poland. She focuses on research evaluation, national journal rankings, scientometrics, and bibliometrics.

Aneta Drabek, Library of the University of Silesia

Aneta Drabek works in the Library of the University of Silesia in Poland. She is a co-author of the ARIANTA: the largest continuously updated database of Polish journals.

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Published

2019-03-31