Dear,

Very nice definition, indeed. I would tend to agree, but I also recognize some further questions for a debate.

1) In Scientometrics, there must be some people working with this and defining international collaboration/international journal, do you happen to know anything about this?

2) What about a journal that do not have a "country" because the chief-editor changes over time around different countries?

3) When looking for a specific journal of high impact, over time, the % of papers published with authors from more than 1 country varies from 5% to 25% or from 25 to 45%. Do you think a journal may change its status over time, or do you refer to mean %)

Very ambitious - a journal without a country - may be the OPEN journals would be - however, when you are a developing country the American and British journals are considered international journals.

Regards

Theodora Issa

Thank you Roger & Issa,

@ Issa - perhaps I should rephrase the question: every now-and-then the question pops up in RG: when would YOU regard a journal to have gained " international" status? The author of the question (most commonly from the East) is, then, not referring to a "journal without a country" but, I presume, how does a journal become "international"

Why, by whom and based on which criteria, would you regard American and British journals to be considered " international journals?

Certainly not readership - some Chinese (scientific) journals have a readership number that, for example, the British Journal of Surgery could be jealous of.

I would be very interested in the criteria the members of RG would consider appropriate

Hello Jan,

Well, there some groups who are working on this - well, if you go to Scopus, Urlich list... or Excellence in Research (ERA), or the Business Deans Council just to name a few for the those written in English language and for Chinese peer reviewed journals you can go to The Chinese Computing Federation (CCF) Ranking List - and also there are other lists for every discipline for example...

Professor Harzing had compiled a list in December 2013 - which you can reach at:

http://www.harzing.com/download/jql_journal.pdf

Regards

Theodora Issa

Hi,

I came from Public Health and many times we have topics that are only of local interest, at most, national. Just think: who would be directly interested in Medicaid/Medicare apart from USA? What about (my) Brazilian National Health System (SUS) or the British NHS?

Therefore, I think international journal are international also because of the scope. A journal like Lancet or JAMA publish about many different types of diseases that concern people from different countries. This is within they scope.

Indexing a journal writine in english in Scopus, Medline or ISI makes it appear they are international, even if they are not (based on the scope)

I agree that a journal that was planned to be "international" should be evaluated based on internationalization measures like Jan has proposed.

How to evaluate journals planned to be "local"? How do we know if they are successful? They tend to be more pragmatic, so my opinion is that they should be read by those who would use (e.g. local policy-makers).

Cheers.

Thanks Roger for the discussion - local journals - they might be good - but, do you think that they will be read by any party other than the researchers themselves - local policy-makers!? is that right?

Maybe the best international journal is the one that publishes about issues of concern to different regions - and in different languages, or with a facility to translate if you wish!? ambitious ha!

Thanks and regards

Theodora Issa

:-)

Yeah! You got me trapped. I argue in they same way you did with one of my PhD students: policy makers do not read academic journals. He is insists that he is a policy maker and reads. He also argues that they have an internal bulletin at from epidemiological surveillance that should be scientific, though not academic. The whole idea of surveillance it to provide information for decision making, right?

I agree that international journals could publish about local issues and different languages. Then, the citation would be rather lower, right? Our main Brazilian Journal in Public Health (Revista de Saúde Pública) publishes now everything in two languages, but impact factor has not grown, probably because the audience is still local.

Thanks for the discussion.

Thank you Theodora & Roger for your interesting comments.

The Harzing website is indeed interesting. Unfortunately it refers to business and management only. The criteria suggested however, are of interest.

Another observationis is that journals with "International", or "World Jnl of..." do not necessarily reach high impact factors (IFs) whereas some "local" journals eventually do (e.g. "New England Jnl of Medicine") - is this because the Editorial board set certain minimal standards or, are here other reasons. Some widely read Jnls publish a great deal on international issues (such as the Lancet) while others seldom do (such as the NEJM). Any explanation?

I heard that a journal is named international journal is if it's reviewers is from another country, at least 3 reviewer from different country with where the journal is published. is it right?

@Wingerden

1. I feel that citation index of individual publication is always important than in which journal the article was published.

2. In the era of Open access journals ' >50% subscription received from outside country of origin' looks impractical.

3. Today's well established journals were born one day, passing through infancy, childhood, adolescence-metamorphosed into adulthood [and some of them expired]. So we have to nurture and encourage newer generation of journals to grow them to optimally contribute instead of putting obstacles. I feel nobody can stop others growth.

I would like to submit the following few points in this context.

So far, no specific definition has been arrived to find out which is National Journal or International Journal.

The following indicators may be considered and some professional society may come up or the International Library Federations may come out with a clear cut definition for the term "International Journal" as such definition is absolutely necessary nowadays.

1. The Journal should have a current ISSN

2.The Editorial Board should have international editors from various countries (at least 1/3)

3. At least 10% of total articles from abroad should be published in each Volume (not issue).

4. International Peer review process should be done

5. The Journal should be available online (either open access or for subscription)

6. The journal should be indexed by International Bibliographical Databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, Agris, CABDirect, AGRIS, PubMed, etc.

7. The journal should be published by an Established Publisher or a Professional Society

8. The Editor / Publisher should be a Member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) or International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM

9. The Journal should have a web site which should provide contact details of the publisher, editorial board members, Registered Office and description of how the peer review process is handled including timeframes.

10. Journals which are published by International Agencies like FAO, WHO, OIE, ILRI, World Bank, etc., may be considered as International Journals.

11. All articles should have DOI

I look forward to extensive discussions on this topic and the deliberations may be considered for come out with indicators for International Journals.

Maybe this discussion started because a researcher who had two publications in his own country was criticised by a jealous colleague who only had one publication (which happened to be in another country)! Which is better? I think that researchers must get away from such pettiness.

A researcher should publish in the journal that matches the field best and that accepts the paper. If a researcher has the luxury of more than one suitable and willing target journal, then choose the one that you admire the most or choose the one that has the greatest readership (if you can find that figure!).

Is a nice definition, however sometime I feel that international journals are outside some places in the world! do you think the criteria above may apply on predatory journals?

Best regards

Aly R Abdel-Moemin

I agree with Aly, even me too thinking that international articles means outside own country...clarify us sir

What is criteria under which a journal can be termed as ‘national’ or ‘international’? at https://achalamunigal.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/what-is-criteria-under-which-a-journal-can-be-termed-as-national-or-international/