WikiJournal of Science/Applications/SCOPUS

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WikiJSci SCOPUS application
accepted
AppliedJune 2019
RejectedDecember 2019
Re-appliedApril 2021
AcceptedAugust 2021
Application tracker

SCOPUS application

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In March 2017, the sister journal WikiJMed applied to SCOPUS. Although they noted that it is an interesting concept, it was rejected as not be yet fully worked through:

  • Not clear whether it would attract original articles or whether it is just a variant of Wikipedia on medical and health topics
  • The associate editors were self-nominated
  • The "publishing ethics" statement was merely a link to the COPE website

I think that WikiJSci is actually at a logical point for applying itself, since it now hits the application requirements and a few articles have just come out over the last month. Whilst the WikiJMed application is drafted over at that discussion page, I suggest we draft the WikiJSci application below.

Specific requirements

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Per application form:

  1. Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement for this title
  2. eISSN
    • 2470-6345
  3. Type of serial publication
    • Journal
  4. Primary Field
    • Multidisciplinary
  5. Primary Publisher
    • WikiJournal User Group
  6. Country/Territory of publisher:
    • United States
  7. Most recent articles (x9 PDF upload) or most recent issues (x3 PDF upload)
    • ...
  8. Table of contents for a complete issue (x1 PDF upload)
  9. Aims & scope
    • Adapted from WikiJournal_of_Science/About:
    • WikiJSci is an open access journal in STEM topics, published free of charge.
    • The journal aims to ensure accurate scientific information is published in a way that maximises its public good. The journal has a particularly strong outreach and public impact focus via it's 'Wikipedia-integration' features: Articles that pass peer-review are published as a citable, indexed PDF, and suitable text and images are integrated into Wikipedia and related projects (with a link to the indexed PDF). The vast readership of Wikipedia results in a high effective impact of included works. It therefore enables academic and research professionals to contribute expert knowledge to the Wikimedia movement in the academic publishing format that directly rewards them with citable publications. Peer reviews are published alongside articles for transparency and auditability.
    • The journal's scope is science, technology, engineering and mathematics, broadly construed. The journal publishes both review articles and original research in various formats. The journal targets a broad population spanning from advanced researchers and academics to students and laypersons, wherein the latter can get quick explanations of advanced terms by in-line links to Wikipedia.
  10. Start year of current title
    • 2017
  11. Has this title undergone any name changes, mergers or splits (prev. names and dates)
    • No (name change was before first publication)
  12. Contact emails
  13. Link to the publication ethics and publication malpractice statement
  14. Frequency
    • Continuous
  15. Average number of research articles and review articles published per year
    • 6 (5.75 rounded to nearest whole number; 23 over four years 2017-2020)
  16. Are all articles published in English
    • Yes
  17. Do all articles have English-language abstracts and article
    • Yes
  18. Do the articles have references in Roman alphabet
    • Yes
  19. Which type of peer review applies to this title (editor review / Open peer review / Single-blind peer review / Double-blind peer review)
    • Open Peer review
  20. What is the publisher's business model?
    • Not-for-profit Diamond OA
  21. What is the average manuscript turnaround time of the serial publication?
    • 9 months
  22. What is the average manuscript acceptance rate?
    • 67%
  23. Please provide a detailed description of the peer review process:
  24. URL of editorial board
    • https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJournal_of_Science/Editors
  25. What is the geographic distribution of editors of the title
    • International - different continents (different continent / same continent / same country / same institution)
  26. Please list some examples of countries of editors (if any countries predominate, please indicate)
    • Australia x2, Brazil, USA x7, Germany x2, UK x4, South Africa, Canada x2, Italy, France, India x2, Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea
  27. What is the geographic distribution of authors publishing in this title:
    • International - different continents (different continent / same continent / same country / same institution)
  28. Please list some examples of countries of authors (if any countries predominate, please indicate)
    • Australia x14, USA x12, Singapore x3, UK x2, Israel x2, Czechia, Nepal, Netherlands, Russia, China
  29. Provide information about the main handling editor(s) of the title (x3) : Name, affiliation, country, online professional information
  30. Is the title (co-)published on behalf of a scientific society
    • No
  31. Does the serial title have DOIs which are registered with CrossRef
    • Yes
  32. Is the title already indexed in other bibliographic databases
    • Yes
  33. Does this title offer open access to its full-text content (yes / no / yes+DOAJ)
    • Yes+DOAJ
  34. Other comments / remarks
    • Our sister journal, WikiJournal of Medicine, applied to SCOPUS in March 2017. Since we share the same format, we would like to note how those concerns have been addressed in the past two years.
      • In addition to encyclopedic reviews, original research articles are published (typically with a focus on science teaching, e.g. doi:10.15347/wjm/2015.004) as well as an editorial to introduce our intentions for the journal, doi:10.15347/wjs/2018.001. We also accept submission of figure and gallery articles as published in WikiJMed here and here.
      • Associate editors now apply with their credentials, and are now only brought on board after a vote. The voting process for associate editor applications has now been broaght in line with the same process for editorial boards.
      • We have a fully-developed publication ethics statement also vetted by COPE (membership number JM13664). In particular, this also outlines the journal's position on some of the unique features of its publication format (e.g. author expectations of content ownership after it is copied to Wikipedia)
    • Additionally we have improved our bylaws with advice from the WMF to make them more robust, and improved our public editorial guidelines to further improve transparency of our processes.
    • Finally, since March 2017, we believe that we have further developed the journal structure in all aspects. The editorial board includes members from a diverse range of academic expertise, as well as backgrounds in science communication, publishing and open-access and wikimedia projects. The journals aim for impact in scholarly citations, Altmetrics, and wide general public readership via integrating content into Wikipedia. Given the very wide reach of the articles (current readership >2.5 million per annum via Wikipedia) we are particularly cautious in our quality control. All plagiarism checks, peer reviews and editorial recommendations are public alongside the article.

SCOPUS Content policy and selection criteria

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https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/how-scopus-works/content/content-policy-and-selection

criteria
Journal Policy
  1. Convincing editorial policy
  2. Type of peer review
  3. Diversity in geographical distribution of editors
  4. Diversity in geographical distribution of authors
Content
  1. Academic contribution to the field
  2. Clarity of abstracts
  3. Quality of and conformity to the stated aims and scope of the journal
  4. Readability of articles
Journal Standing
  1. Citedness of journal articles in Scopus
  2. Editor standing
Publishing Regularity
  1. No delays or interruptions in the publication schedule
    • Although vague, this is an area where WikiJournal processes can be improved. In general delays vary depending on the response rates of peer reviewers
Online Availability
  1. Full journal content available online
  2. English language journal home page available
  3. Quality of journal home page

Discussion

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Now that WikiJSci is listed in DOAJ, I have made the submission to SCOPUS via the Title Suggestion form. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 06:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

As an update on this, I just emailed SCOPUS to check, and they stated that assessments are currently taking 6-12 months, so I'll check back in with them again next June if we don't hear anything sooner. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 10:04, 12 December 2019 (UTC)

Rejection (too early)

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The Scopus Title Evaluation Support team has just emailed to say that we need a publication history of at least 2 years before application. That places re-submission of the application in June of 2020. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 06:51, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

Reapplication

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Resubmitted via Title Suggestion form. Progress at Tracking page with ID E099AEE44F8F181C. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 01:26, 23 April 2021 (UTC)

Acceptance

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The WikiJSci application for inclusion in Scopus has been assessed by their Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB). The decision was to accept, noting the following as informing their decision:

The journal's international Editorial Board composition as well as its international author contributions are noteworthy. While the journal takes a very innovative approach with its Wikipedia integration features these do not seem to be translating easily into citation impact - perhaps with time this will materialize, after all the title began as recently as 2018. The journal's average manuscript turnaround time (9 months), average acceptance rate (67%) and its indication of dates received and accepted for each article, all serve as indicators of rigor of peer review and quality management of published content. The articles themselves are very scientifically presented, and well ground in extensive literature which is consistently referenced. Layout and typesetting (including graphics presentation) are of a high standard.
  • The journal includes articles that are academically sound and relevant to an international academic or professional audience in the field.
  • The abstracts are in keeping with Scopus English Language requirements.
  • In general, the content of the articles is consistent with the scope and aims of the journal.
  • The journal has clear aims and scope/journal policies that are consistent with the journal’s content.
  • Peer review type is clearly stated and is supported by appropriate reviewer guidelines.

T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 05:07, 23 August 2021 (UTC)