The effect of publication traditions and requirements in research assessment and funding policies upon the use of national journals in 28 post-socialist countries

This article explores the implications of political-historical relations and research evaluation policies for the use of nationally oriented journals in 28 post-socialist countries. The study uses Scopus as a source of national and international journal publications. A national journal is defined as a journal in which there is one author affiliation country accounting for at least 50 per cent of all articles published in the journal. The study distinguishes between domestic national journals and foreign national journals. Comparison between publications in national journals (INO-P>50 in 2019) in 1996 and 2019 highlights that the tradition of publishing in national journals which dates back to the 1990s and more recent publication requirements are two factors that affect a country's percentage share of publications in national journals. These findings support earlier studies indicating that journals from post-socialist countries are used mainly for local promotions and formal fulfilment of policy rules. There is no correlation between the ratio of national vs international publications to GDP. Findings on foreign national journals indicate that the lack of local/national journals promotes publishing in national journals of other countries.