The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland plans to publish, by the end of February, a Regulation on updating the procedure for compiling the list of academic journals. What will the reform include? What changes are planned? How will journals be assessed? Let’s discuss this in today’s article.
Ministerial list of academic journals
The ministerial list of journals is an official list published by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW), which awards a certain number of points for publishing an article in a particular academic journal. Approximately 35,000 titles are assessed, which makes points-based evaluation a challenging task.
The new list is intended to be used in the process of evaluating the quality of research activity of universities and institutes in the period from 2026 to 2030. The evaluation is important for the categorisation of institutions, which affects the amount of budget subsidies and the authority to award academic degrees.
Problems with the ministerial list of publications: what will the reform include?
Some academics have reported certain difficulties with the functioning of the ministerial list of journals and ranked publishers. Although it is a necessary tool for evaluating research activity, in practice it creates certain obstacles for students who would like to disseminate their own research. Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education has begun work on this issue. The proposed regulation aims to change the approach to compiling the list of academic journals, based on the requirements of the academic community.
A current issue remains the high cost of publishing in open-access journals and the limited opportunities for financial support. University programmes are mostly aimed at doctoral candidates and research staff, often not taking into account students in first- and second-cycle programmes or long-cycle Master’s programmes. As a result, early-career researchers face significant barriers to disseminating their scientific achievements.
Among the changes envisaged by the reform, the key ones are as follows:
- The new list of journals should be more transparent, more democratic, and place value on publications in the Polish language.
- Two parts of the list will be introduced: an automatic part (journals from the Scopus and WoS databases and the support programme) and an expert part, assessed by members of PAN.
- The evaluation of monographs, books and conferences, while maintaining control over ethical standards.
How will the new list be compiled and what will it include?
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education has stated that no radical changes will be introduced to the evaluation system, but that the existing system will be improved.
The new evaluation model will shift the focus from quantity to the quality of scientific publications. Despite these changes, the list of journals and peer-reviewed conference materials, as well as publishers, will remain components of this system.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education also emphasised the autonomy of universities in certain areas. It was clarified that legal acts do not require universities to use journal lists when granting funding for publications or when setting criteria for the rector’s scholarship for the best students. Decisions on these matters are the responsibility of the entities within the system of science and higher education.
As noted above, the new list of academic publications will consist of two parts, namely:
- Journals from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, as well as from the programme supporting Polish academic journals.
- Journals that may be added to the list at the request of experts. Journals from databases such as ERIH+, DOAJ, EBSCO and Index Copernicus International (via the Journal Master List) may be considered. Such recommendations must be put to a vote by members of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), and the justification for including a journal is planned to be made public.
Evaluation of monographs, conferences and Polish publications
In the humanities, social sciences and theology, the role of experts will increase. Any journal in these fields may be submitted for expert review, which may result in the awarding of up to 200 points. In the exact and technical sciences, expert review will be applied mainly to professional journals without bibliometric indicators and will be limited to a maximum of 70 points.
When it comes to evaluating publishers that publish monographs, the biggest change is the introduction of a new intermediate category (worth 140 points, since previously there was a gap between 80 and 200 points, which was criticised within the academic community). Polish publishers will now also have the chance to obtain the maximum score. Books will also be included in the definition of a monograph.
Funding of the Virtual Scientific Library in 2026
Work is currently under way on funding the Virtual Library of Science in 2026. Its aim is, in particular, to ensure maximum access to materials in open access.
It is worth noting that the issue of open access is quite complex. Some journals provide broad access to information in this way, but this does not guarantee the reliability of the publication process. This model is also used by outlets that seek to make a profit rather than disseminate high-quality materials.
The above-mentioned draft regulation takes into account the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which currently indexes more than 22,000 journals that are open access. Indexing of a journal in this database makes it possible to include it in the Ministerial list of academic journals.
How will academic publications be assessed?
The assessment process will be carried out by the Science Evaluation Committee, and it consists of two stages: bibliometric and expert. After that, the Committee has the right to reconcile the results, adjust the scores within the rules, and prepare a draft list.
First stage
First, the Committee will determine the journal’s percentile on the basis of the selected impact indicators, in accordance with the scientific discipline. Before the assessment, the Committee will also assign to scientific disciplines academic journals from Scopus and Web of Science and those funded under the “Support for Academic Journals” programme, as well as DBLP conference materials in computer science bibliography.
Based on the determined values, each academic journal will be assigned points from 40 to 200, according to its percentile values. The National Science Council (KEN) will be able to increase the calculated percentile value or the average percentile value up to 10 for academic journals that are of particular importance for achieving the objectives of national science policy.
Based on the assessment of the impact of academic journals or conference materials on the development of science, KEN assigns journals and conference materials from 20 to 200 points. Journals selected under the “Support for Academic Journals” programme will be awarded 20 points.
Second stage
The second stage is an expert assessment carried out by teams selected by the Minister. First, the teams will conduct an initial selection of academic journals from the ERIH+, DOAJ, EBSCO or ICI JML databases and prepare lists of journals with an international reputation.
Such journals must have a significant impact on the development of a given scientific discipline and comply with the ethical and scientific standards proposed for inclusion in the list of academic journals.
The teams will also prepare a justification for each academic journal included in the lists regarding its compliance with the above requirements and will submit it for the Committee’s approval together with the lists of selected academic journals. Academic journals accepted by the National Education Committee will be awarded 20 points.
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