Requirements for a peer-reviewed scientific publication
Not all writings published in scholarly journals, conference proceedings or books are peer-reviewed scientific publications. The same publication channel may contain both peer-reviewed and non-refereed content. This is why you must, before determining the publication's level, ensure that the publication meets the requirements set for a peer-reviewed scientific publication for the purposes of the Ministry of Education and Culture’s publication data collection.
A peer-reviewed scientific publication should:
- contain original research outcomes
- present the research outcomes in an open, reproducible and usable form
- before publication, undergo a peer review carried out by independent experts covering the entire manuscript.
The publication should also have an external publisher; self-published works are not included in the publication data collection. A publication reported as one of the publication types A1–A4 and C1–C2 must have an ISSN or ISBN.
Publication types of peer-reviewed scientific publications
In the Ministry of Education and Culture’s publication data collection, peer-reviewed scientific publications are divided into publication types A1–A4 and C1–C2.
| Publication type | Description |
| A1 | Journal article (refereed), original research |
| A2 | Review article, Literature review, Systematic review |
| A3 | Book section |
| A4 | Conference proceedings |
| C1 | Book |
| C2 | Edited book, conference proceedings or special issue of a journal |
Journal articles A1 and A2
Journal articles are peer-reviewed articles published in scholarly journals, yearbooks or other seasonal publications. An article with original research (A1) presents new research outcomes. A review article (A2) compiles and evaluates previously published research using scientific methods.
Book section, chapters in research books A3
A book section is a peer-reviewed article published in an edited book containing articles by several authors. A peer-reviewed introductory chapter and foreword of an edited book may also belong to this publication type.
Conference proceedings A4
Conference proceedings refers to a peer-reviewed article published in the proceedings of a regularly recurring scientific conference. Abstracts and posters are not included in this publication type.
An article published in a book based on a one-off event is reported as a book section (A3). A peer-reviewed article published in a scholarly journal is reported as a journal article (A1 or A2) even if it is based on a conference paper.
Book C1
A book is a peer-reviewed scholarly work written entirely by one or more authors. For example, textbooks and handbooks do not belong to this publication type.
Edited book C2
An edited book is an edited scholarly book, conference proceedings or special issue of a journal comprising articles by several authors. The author has edited the work, and their name is given as its editor.
Determining the level of a publication channel
Once you have determined the publication type, you should check which publication channel determines the level of the publication. The publication channel may be a journal, publication series, conference or book publisher.